Album Review: Weed Demon – Crater Maker (Electric Valley Records)

Carl Fisher 2 min read

Appearances can be deceiving – Weed Demon from Columbus, Ohio, will be the first to tell you that. While it would be a lie to say that Mary Jane had no influence on their music whatsoever, the quartet already showed in 2017 that they offer more than that. Astrological Passages was a notable evolution from their début EP, and second album Crater Maker walks even further down that path.

It will be released on April 3rd 2020 via Electric Valley Records.

Mellow at first, the acoustic melody of Atmospheric Drag sets up a very ‘country’ vibe to Crater Demon. You can smell the desert and taste the dust in the air, a subtle harmonica not something you expect to hear on a metal album.

With some Sabbath influences pretty front and centre, Birthquake introduces the stoner/doom side of Weed Demon most will be expecting. Although the thickness of the riffs is enough to choke and as it slows down only to speed back up, the fuzz begins to cloud the mind.

The haze certainly doesn’t clear for Serpent Merchant, instead Weed Demon grip the ankles and drag the listener down to the fathomless depths of doom. The darkness crushes the spirit and the heaviness warps the mind into a blubbering mess. There is some minor relief with some psychedelic twangs near the end but it is brief.

The title track doesn’t lighten the mental load, once again pouring on the gluttonous riffs with thick, greasy and nerve-twisting heavy doom. Before the penultimate track, Elder Tree Pyre spits out a short, energetic and almost foot-tapping groove.

A palate cleanser for the enormous finale of Sporelord where the sinking realisation that there is no escape from the depths Weed Demon have dragged us into hits home. Their fuzzy and buzzing doom/stoner mix darkening the mind until it consumes completely. No matter how groovy it gets (and it really does), the light never manages to completely seep through.

Weed Demon – Crater Maker Full Track Listing:

1. Atmospheric Drag
2. Birthquake
3. Serpent Merchant
4. Crater Maker
5. Elder Tree Pyre
6. Sporelord




Links

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Weed Demon - Crater Maker (Electric Valley Records)
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