We last checked in with Columbus stoner doom quartet Weed Demon in 2018, when they were promoting their debut album, Astrological Passages. Fast forward a few years and Weed Demon have grown as musicians, fleshing their core Sleep-influenced sound out with death-thrash and dungeon synth tendencies.
Enter their new, third album, The Doom Scroll, which you can stream below. The album starts with the aptly-titled “Acid Dungeon,” a trippy dungeon synth intro that transitions nicely into the hazy, doomy “Tower of Smoke.” Things pick up in intensity on “Coma Dose,” which shows off Weed Demon’s death metal side on the second half.
The second half of the album starts off with “Roasting the Sacred Bones,” a song which could practically be a lost High on Fire song. Things wrap up with “Dead Planet Blues,” a space rock instrumental that ends the album in the same otherworldly fashion it began. The vinyl version of The Doom Scroll comes with a bonus cover of Frank Zappa’s “Willy the Pimp,” which Weed Demon translate to their stoner style.
With The Doom Scroll, it’s obvious that Weed Demon have taken several steps forward as a band.
“A decade is a long time for a band to stay together,” Weed Demon tell Decibel. “By modern standards, it’s an eternity. After a decade of checking all of the sonic boxes associated with the bastardized family tree that is stoner / doom / sludge, we thought it was high time to just do whatever the hell we wanted. The Doom Scroll has plenty of sludgy chugs and spaced out groovy riffs that folks have come to expect from us, but we also incorporate some weird shit just for us. Some dungeon synth, some stripped-down blues rock. Some haunting female guest vocals courtesy of Shy from Horehound and Fvnerals. Fuck it. Toss it in. Makes for some tasty stoner doom riff stew. So, take a break from your daily doom scroll and check out The Doom Scroll. Hope y’all enjoy! Stay hazy.”
The Doom Scroll is out officially on January 31 via Electric Valley Records but you can hear it now via Decibel.