Band: WEED DEMON
Album: Crater Maker
Label: Electric Valley Records
Genre: Sludge/Doom
Release Date: April, 3rd 2020
Lemme start off by saying, the opening track for Crater Maker threw me for a BIG loop. First you hear the needle drop onto a record, then an acoustic guitar comes in with a slight flourish followed by a very simple riff. After a moment or so comes the banjo, tambourine and a harmonica later. Felt like something I'd hear in a Gunsmoke episode, not a bad thing at all, but not what I'd envisioned hearing from something with a molten titan imposing over a barren landscape on an album cover.
That's part of what makes WEED DEMON unique however. They are willing to do some weird shit, and it works. Track two, "Birthquake", rings in with a very Monolord-esque vibe to it. For almost a solid 3 minutes they continue with the same riff with a hypnotic effect. The rest of the song does vary with tempos and keeps it interesting.
Track 3, "Serpent Merchant," is where vocalist Jordan Holland makes his bellowing appearance. If I had to describe his presence, he very much reminds me of ELM from Primitive Man... That is, until he does this inhuman scream towards the end of "Crater Maker," holy hell! Number 5 on the album, "The Elder Tree Pyre," is a riff laden hellscape.
Through the rest of the tracks on this record it is highly apparent that the Ohio band worships at the alter of the greats like Sleep and Electric Wizard, with a penchant for kick ass grooves that you feel your body slowly succumb to as the music permeates your inner conscious. I mean, I can barely sit still while writing about this record, and most certainly has nothing to do with the five cups of coffee I've had today! Even the passages that are more drone like are fantastic.
This being the band's 3rd record, I'm going to have to go on record and say that for me, this is the best album that Weed Demon has done to date. It's doomy, sludge filled tunes to rip your bong to. Hell, even if you're not a partaker of marijuana, they've got some kick ass tunes to rock your body to. Allow them to be the overseers of your dank ritual!
I'm giving Crater Maker a 9/10
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