Album Review- Weed Priest - 'Self Titled'

Location: Galway,Ireland

Label:N/A

Release Date: 25/02/2013

Track Listing:

1.Final Spell
2.Erichtho
3.Walpurgia
4.Thy Kingdom Gone
5.Weed Priest
6.Day Of Reckoning

As a blogger, one will receive a lot of debut demos from different  bands, and as a result start up some correspondence with them, and in a lot of cases, or at least I've found this to be the case, one finds themselves following some bands , charting their progression from something ramshackle but promising, into a band genuinely capable of making an impact in their particular scene.So it was with Galway stoner-doom trio Weed Priest.One of the earliest bands to be reviewed on Born Again Nihilist, their debut demo was hugely enjoyable ,if a little rough around the edges, with a production that was,to be kind,a wee bit under-cooked .However,I found myself revisiting it a fair few times, and wondering, given a bit more studio time etc, what the clearly talented three-piece could conjure up on a full length effort.Well, I may wonder no more, as just a couple of days ago, a small parcel came crashing through my letterbox, and contained within was a radioactive green- on- black slice of black magick. My sermon was begun . . .

From haunting opener 'Final Spell' onwards, it's immediately apparent that the Priest have stepped it up several dozen notches in terms of production  from that aforementioned three track demo. Atmospheric but not overdone, with a surprisingly clean drum sound(minimal reverb,take note please you doom drum freaks) , and a stripped down approach to the recording of the  guitars that lets the riffs breath.There are none of the usual tricks and effects laden on here, and the band are left to get on with the business of crushing you under a wall of demonic noise,extremely fucking slowly.

If one was looking for a comparison, it would probably be fair to say that the Weed Priest sound lays somewhere between the bellicose ,slo- mo bombast of Sleep at their best, and the queasy atmospherics of prime Electric Wizard. Tracks like 'Walpurgia' and 'Erictho' revel in their monotonous ,smoked out fury, vocalist Adam De Monlung half chanting,half roaring his vocal lines,not sounding a million miles away from Al Cisneros before he discovered Hare Krishnas and fell out with Pike. .This is a band that rock, but more in the geological sense ,as all the best doom does, riffs that pull  like tectonic plates shifting, a ritual of hellish stoner vibes and devilishly dark grooves.De Monlung's guitar work is also excellent, and each lead break is compelling listening,his technique minimal but still affecting.The guitar  tone is also perfectly judged, not overly awash with fuzz and all the usual tricks of the sludge/stoner/doom rabble, but still genuinely heavy,consistent and pleasingly raw.

Weed Priest  then, preaching the gospel of doom, and doing it right.Turn on, light up, play fucking loud.

Rating:8.5/10

For fans of : Sleep, Electric Wizard, Cathedral, Mourning Beloveth, Rites


Buy it here: http://weedpriest.bandcamp.com/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/WeedPriest

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