ALBUM PREMIERE & REVIEW: Weed Priest - "Consummate Darkness"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 31/10/2017

Label: Cursed Monk Records

If you are a fan of Weed Priest's ultra-heavy music, you will walk away pleased. However, those new to the now-quartet will also be impressed by such additions turning out its best work so far.

"Consummate Darkness" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Witch's Curse

2. Vampyr

3. Sky Daddy

4. The Mass

The Review:

It is quite a feat for a metal band to have a really distinctive opener, one that seizes your attention with its sound and fury. So when Irish blackened doom band Weed Priest launches its new album, "Consummate Darkness," with the song "Witch's Curse," a blistering opus if ever there was one, you can't help but stand at attention. Dishing out classic metal into the denser style of today, Weed Priest's uniquely heavy return is most welcome.

The group dropped a demo in 2011, then a full-length in 2013 and an EP in 2014. After changes to its squad – Weed Priest switched drummers and added a guitarist during this period – the four-piece issued splits in 2015 (with Astralnaut) and 2016 (with Black Capricorn). Adding players is always iffy business. "Consummate Darkness" marks the first chance for Weed Priest to spread its batlike wings on a full length using its fresh lineup.

Vocalist Adamus de Sabbator gets one hell of a backdrop to build on with that opening cut. And on "Vampyr," a track that surfaced as a preview to the album, he flips the vocal to be especially haunting. Paralleled with guitarist Sean Sullivan, de Sabbator's riffs as well as Sullivan's prove intimidating too. The vivid lyricism gets a fun touch with clips from German filmmaker Werner Herzog's 1979 adaption of "Nosferatu the Vampyre," featuring longtime collaborator Klaus Kinski and, for the sake of the song, Ronald Topor's wonderfully unhinged performance as Renfield. "Vampyr" comes in at just over 10 minutes, but feels quite complete, without bloat or overlong elements.

"Sky Daddy" brings Weed Priest back to familiar ground as some of its past work. The song is undoubtedly more on the classic metal and stoner vibe you may have heard before when the group was just a trio. Bassist K.H. Rhaagulus does a particularly good job of knitting the cut together by balancing his playing with the drums and adding some ballast to the twin guitars. Overall, it a pleasing entry, and certainly red meat for the stoner rock heads out there.

"Consummate Darkness" closes out with "The Mass," a 14-minute-plus slab of aural concrete hurled at you. Here, all of Weed Priest's parts come together seamlessly. Bass and drums build slowly, until the guitars swoop in. This is doom at its best, and the black metal-inspired growls mixed in to make those ominous guitars feel all the more threatening. "The Mass" demonstrates a new maturity for Weed Priest. The song is deliberate in a different way than some of its better past work, and the added guitar offers far more depth than previous outings. A critical ear might suggest the solos 11 minutes in might be a bit much, but they are forgivable, given all the energy the group puts into such a sterling cut.

If you are a fan of Weed Priest's ultra-heavy music, you will walk away pleased. However, those new to the now-quartet will also be impressed by such additions turning out its best work so far.

"Consummate Darkness" is available to preorder/buy here and you can stream the album in full below ahead of release on Halloween. 

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW: Ten Ton Slug - “Blood and Slime” [EP]

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 31/10/2017

Label: Independent

Ten Ton Slug is like Crowbar jamming with Sabbath, by way of Eyehategod. The riffs are massive- and surprisingly catchy- whilst the production is raw and pushes everything into the front and into the red.  There is some great metal coming out of Ireland and Ten Ton Slug are making it.

“Blood and Slime” CD//DD track listing:

1). Slug Grinder

2). Matriarch of Slime

3). Siege

The Review:

Ireland's Ten Ton Slug are producing some massive, guttural and feral sludge/doom. This three track EP should further establish these Galway men of metal at the forefront of the Emerald Isle's metal scene. To give you an idea of what to expect for those new to the band, this is like Crowbar jamming with Sabbath, by way of Eyehategod. The riffs are massive- and surprisingly catchy- whilst the production is raw and pushes everything into the front and into the red. Vocals are guttural, drums are punchy, guitars and bass are low and slow.

You get three tracks with only one coming in just under seven minutes. Of the three on offer, it is hard to pick a winner; as it should be with EPs. “Slug Grinder” is heavy and not without catchy elements, while “Matriarch of Slime” is a chugging beast of huge proportions- with a cool lead break down the middle. Perhaps the ten minute epic “Siege” is more your bag? Huge in sound and scope, this is as weighty as it gets, with a surprisingly clear lyrical narrative.

If you have an interest in any of the three bands mentioned above, you should check out this excellent EP. The band sound fully committed to the cause and, having seen them live, I can reliably inform you that they take no prisoners on stage either. There is some great metal coming out of Ireland and Ten Ton Slug are making it.

“Blood and Slime” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook