Album Review: Weed Demon - The Doom Scroll
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
There are some spooky, scary noises that lead off opening track “Acid Dungeon” that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1930’s German expressionist film, however, it has already sucked me in, as I sit here waiting to discover what comes next from sludge and stoner metal band Weed Demon.
What comes next, is one hell of a rifftastic song called “Tower of Smoke” and the Columbus, Ohio quartet are back in full flow with their third album “The Doom Scroll”. You get three and a half minutes of a twin guitar bludgeoning from Andy Center and Brian Buckley, before they come back midway to stamp on your neck and inflict more damage. The solos are impressive, and I can feel myself doing that slow headbang in approval of a quite superb seven minute plus instrumental track. If only everything in life was this damn good.
“Coma Dose” begins like a soundtrack to a spaghetti western mixed with a bit of cosmic space dust. It’s a slow, crushing sound, with the bass of Jordan Holland being prominent and setting the agenda on the song. A few minutes in, the thunderous drums from Nick Carter and huge guitar sound take up the baton and run forward. The harsh vocals takes me aback a little, but it’s impressive nonetheless, and if you don’t appreciate the killer riff two thirds of the way through this song, then you are very hard to please.
Their press release puts it quite wonderfully describing Weed Demon as “the audio equivalent of bong water spilled on a Ouija board” which made me chuckle, yet it seems so appropriate, and the aptly titled “Roasting the Sacred Bones” is next to destroy your ears. Once again, it’s a slow burner, with an acoustic intro before you get that punchy, heavyweight sludge riff to rock out to. The music is infused with a bluesy edge, which adds something different, but they are unrelenting and not ashamed to churn out their own brand of potent sludge metal.
“Dead Planet Blues” has a delightful, dreamy feel to it, that I could listen to for hours, as it takes you away to a different, happier place. It’s a contrast to what has come before, yet somehow doesn’t feel out of place at all, almost like they are wrapping the album up with a soft tissue to hide the scars of a hard-fought battle. On the vinyl edition, you lucky people get a cover of Frank Zappa’s classic “Willy the Pimp” which is well worth a listen just for the extended guitar solo alone.
