WeedWizard - Closed Eyes...Open Mind
Stoner metal/sludge/doom band WeedWizard just dropped Closed Eyes…Open Mind, a powerful example of what doom should be.
WeedWizard
From Sinsheim, Germany, WeedWizard formed in 2013, and travels on the talents of Frank von Boldt (guitar vocals), The Dude (guitar), Hamdi (drums), and Fleck (bass).
There’s not much gen available on the band, so we go with the music. Fortunately, their sound is deep, dread-filled, and darkly potent.
With eight-tracks, the album begins with “The Weed Wizard,” opening on guttural guitars from the deepest parts of Hell. I love the Thor-like crunching heft of the drums, massive, sharp, and pummeling. A dense vibrating bassline punctuates the music with thick sinewy textures.
Never much of a fan of the trend toward Cookie Monster vocals in today’s doom, von Boldt’s demonic tones actually contribute to the disquieting flavor of WeedWizard’s sound, infusing the lyrics with snarling, growling textures.
The viscous flow of the music forms a wall-of-sound, impenetrable and dripping with immense shades of obscurity.
Entry points include “Immortality,” fusing subterranean gravity with tight dirty guitar riffs, and a bassline thrumming with apocalyptic force. Again, excellent drumming from Hamdi whose sway is all-encompassing. Three layers of coloration, bass, guitars, and a more lustrous but penetrating guitar give the tune colossal density.
“Burning Altars” features a remote intro, full of strident guitars. When the rhythm enters, the soundscape assumes profound clout, rife with black swirling dynamics. Von Boldt takes his vocals way down, arriving at dungeon-like timbres, thus imbuing the lyrics with death-rattling ferocity.
“No Soul To Sell” rumbles and groans with yawning textures, taking on a more aggressive rock feel. “Batttlesmoke” travels on symphonic flavors, simultaneously spectral and undulating with shadowy surfaces. Hamdi’s drums fill the harmonics with Jovian thumps. The viscous flow of the music forms a wall-of-sound, impenetrable and dripping with immense shades of obscurity. Although the longest track on the album, this is a personal favorite because of its grim opulence.
Doom is not dead. With Closed Eyes…Open Mind, WeedWizard finances grinding, groaning, shuddering music that demands attention.
