Tag Archives: weed

ALBUM REVIEW: Cold In Berlin – Wound

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Despite being from London, Cold in Berlin once again lives up to their name, as it conjures, stark, wintry urban landscape at night. Wounds (New Heavy Sounds) finds the band going further down the path they wandered down on their previous album, which found them more fully committing to their crossover into doom. The opening track of their new album blurs the lines even further, carrying a darker, more pulsating beat. Vocalist Maya belts things out with the expected intensity of her aching alto. The hypnotic pulse of “12 Crosses” shares some common ground with grunge from the nineties, as more exotic flourishes of atmosphere are also employed. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Yawning Man – Pavement Ends

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If you have ever eaten a gummy and thought:

“This is not doing shit!”Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Electric Wizard – Black Magic Rituals and Perversions, Vol. 1

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In 2024, Electric Wizard returns with their first album in seven years, Black Magic Rituals and Perversions, Vol. 1 (Spinefarm Records), a live album. Returning with a live album is one thing but this isn’t your ordinary live album. Usually, when one thinks of live albums, you may think of hearing bombastic stage sounds and roaring crowds, but Electric Wizard chose to record to an audience of each other and to the fans with the idea that people would get to hear what a band, trapped in isolation with the thought of possibly never playing again. The result of this album is a crushing presentation of songs that are even more raw, angry, and fist-clenching than before.  Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive

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Five albums into their career, the fact Pallbearer was once a Doom Metal band has faded into the haze of the atmosphere that dominates Mind Burns Alive (Nuclear Blast Records). Of all the metal sub-genres, fans of doom metal are the most forgiving when it comes to a band outgrowing the confines of the genre. Perhaps this is just Brett Campbell’s beautiful singing voice distracting you from the lyrics, which are as equally as bleak as those on the previous album. There might be a marginally more optimistic tone to “Where the Light Fades.” These depressive expressions are a thread of continuity tethering this bands’ entire body of work. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Black Rainbows – Superskull

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Stoner rock is often thought of in the same dim light as Doom, but this Italian band has dropped an album that serves as an example of how the two genres differ. While stoner rock and doom both share DNA with Black Sabbath, these guys ride on their riffs with a boogie that share a similar cactus patch as Clutch. They do pay homage to Sabbath, mainly in the singer’s piercing declarations that sound like Ozzy by way of nineties grunge. Their fuzz-laden riffs focus on grooving, rather than carrying the stark undercurrent of aggression that powered Sabbath’s darker guitar sound. 

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Grim Reefer Fest 2023 Books Bongzilla, Ilsa, Borracho, Haze Mage, Wizard Rifle, and More!  

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Baltimore’s annual Grim Reefer Fest has announced its full lineup for the upcoming event. Baltimore, MD on Saturday, April 29th, 2023.  Heading up the bill are Bongzilla, with Ilsa, Borracho, Haze Mage, Wizard Rifle, False Gods, Sun Voyager, Faith in Jane, Holy Fingers, and Blightbeast! Tickets are $35 in adv and $50 at the door and can be purchased directly at the link below.

Poster by GhostBat

Poster by GhostBat

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Sleep Releases The Unedited Version of “Dopesmoker”

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For Bandcamp Friday just passed (December 3rd, 2021) Sleep released their unedited version of their classic album Dopesmoker, originally released on 4/20 in 2013 via Southern Lord. The album is available now streaming from Bandcamp and CD.  It also includes live versions of “Holy Mountain and “Sonic Titan!” Purchase and stream the album as the band re-envisioned it, and read the fascinating backstory below. 

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REVIEWS ROUNDUP: Lucifer, Shi, Crop, and The Lucid Furs

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 Lucifer – Lucifer IV

With Lucifer releasing albums of a consistent style at a workman’s pace, it’s easy to overlook the underlying trajectory that’s been gradually in motion. There’s not much of those Occult Doom roots left on Lucifer IV (Century Media Records) as the band has seemingly completed their transformation from female-fronted Uncle Acid to what sounds like Karen Carpenter singing over KISS riffs. Fortunately, it’s hardly a drastic change as Johanna Sadonis’ sultry croon and the freerolling grooves remain as common denominators.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Bongzilla – Weedsconsin

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Bongzilla’s fifth album comes with an interesting set of curveballs, being their first full-length release since 2005’s Amerijuanican as well as their first to be recorded as a trio. However, very little has changed about the Wisconsinites’ vision in the sixteen years they’ve been away. As evidenced by an appropriately dumb but endearing title like Weedsconsin (Heavy Psych Sounds), the Sweet Leaf remains the focal point of their aesthetic and their Stoner-Sludge sound is as potent as ever.

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There is Now a Beer Inspired by Sleep’s “Dopesmoker” Album

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Sleep may be the band most aligned with Stoner Doom Metal culture and sounds in history, but now there is a beer directly inspired by the band, both in its flavor and distinctive artwork. “Hopsmoker” Beer by Widowmaker Brewing of Braintree, on Massachucets’s south shore, has brewed a batch of Pale Ale with the feel and flavor that fans of the Church of Matt Pike will rip off their sweaty shirts off for and bow down to! The can even features unique Weedians and a logo font on the can resembling the Dopesmoker album logotype!  There were selling deluxe packs initially with a 4-pack, rolling paper, and other merch but it sold-out quickly. Continue reading →