Weed Demon – The Doom Scroll
Release Date: 31st January 2025
Label: Electric Valley Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Stoner, Doom, Sludge.
FFO: Elder Druid, Electric Wizard, Woorms, Behold! The Monolith.
Review By: Hillary Wisniewski
For the past decade, Ohio’s Weed Demon has been plugging away at traversing soundscapes galore while staying true to their stoner doom roots. The Doom Scroll sees them continuing on this quest, and their musical chops are on full display. It may only be an album with 5 tracks (or 6 if you pick up the vinyl, which you know damn well you should), but they are epic and vast. Never a dull moment on this one, which makes sense given that the band pride themselves on not staying stuck in one particular sound.
The album opens with a track with music that would be fit for an old Vincent Price flick. Who doesn’t like a bit of dungeon synth? Just as I was settling in for some spooky vibes, my ears were brutally assaulted by some seriously epic doom riffs and generally hard hitting, grooving low end. My interest was piqued, and I thought this would be setting the tone for what I could expect from Weed Demon; however, that was not the case. From the depths of doom, the next track kicked off with some sort of dark Spaghetti Western dynamic and then went into more of those luscious riffs. The vocals started as distorted and distant, then shifted into a bit of death metal-lite type of growling. The B side kicks off on a brief melodic, gentle note on Roasting the Sacred Bones; however, this doesn’t last long as an evil riff accompanied by harsh vocals wells up from the depths of hell. Next on the roster is Dead Planet Blues, which evokes a scene of a lonely traveler in a desert wasteland, only their thought to keep them company as they try to find some semblance of existence. Last, but certainly not least, there is a cover of a Frank Zappa track. Yes, you read that right. Let’s be clear, Zappa was by far one of the most daring and dynamic musicians, and he was a solid advocate for free speech and speaking out against fascism (we sure could use him during these times). Musically, this was fucking solid. Well executed, gentlemen.
This album reminded me a bit of a Chinese food buffet in small town America. You can expect the typical Chinese dishes like lo mein, but if you aren’t interested in those offerings, you can always go for pizza or fried chicken. There’s just a little something for everyone, but maybe it is just a bit confusing because it doesn’t quite fit. The Doom Scroll is disjointed, but I think Weed Demon don’t particularly care to make sure everything is coordinated and, well, a bit vanilla in that regard. To be honest, the vocals didn’t really do it for me, but that’s just a personal preference. Despite these factors, musically this is solid and there were so many great riffs. The songs were well-structured in terms of transitions and definitely held my interest. Since this is my first listen to Weed Demon, I plan on exploring their back catalogue for sure. That in and of itself should solidify the fact you need to give this one a whirl.
(4 / 5)