Weed Priest - Worship (2014)
Worship
is the latest release from Ireland's fine young Weed Priest, and on
this EP, you'll find three tracks of delectable stoner doom. In the
beginning, there is “Ritual”, in which you can practically hear
the smoke in the studio as the band grooves along on a mean but tasty
riff. Though the three musicians do a great job of establishing the
song, once they've done that, they start tearing it down, going
slower, heavier, and grimier, and it was this part that really
tickled my eardrums. Strong enough to be a single (if doom metal
went in for that sort of thing), “Ritual” does double duty in
setting the EP's tone, and kicking ass in its own right.
Happily,
the rest of the EP is just as strong, with the band shifting smoothly
from the trailing feedback drone at the tail of “Ritual” right
into the dirge-like “Killvlad”, which opens with a clang like a
crypt door as the bass and guitar rise into animation. “Killvlad”
also serves as a demonstration of how wild Adam (the
guitarist/vocalist) can go with his morbid roaring, and the
slow-swinging riff is amazingly violent for something so heavy.
“Possessed”
is the final track on the EP, as well as being the longest. The band
earns that extra time fully, though, with audio samples, keening
feedback howls, a whole sack full of savagely heavy riffs, and an
echoing atmosphere that might set off some claustrophobia in
sensitive listeners who have it turned up loudly enough. Though the
band certainly has their own style in spades, I have to say that I
caught myself thinking of this track almost like a condensed
Dopesmoker; it crams
in the doom, madness, and red-eyed relentlessness like there's no
tomorrow, and just begs to be on vinyl so that doom-heads can wear
the grooves down to the nub.
It's a
great collection of material, and a great piece for introduction to
the band (as it was for me, though I'll have to pick up their
self-titled debut ASAP); if you like your doom heavy enough to get
your head swimming, this is one to acquire. Also, a word of
recognition here for the drummer, who departed after this release, but without whose steadiness and
precision the whole thing would have been capsized. Praise be to
Weed Priest!
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Toke, Cough, Major Kong, Dopelord, Church Of Misery
~
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