This stoner-themed sludge/crust band from Oakland slammed its way into my heart on their debut album Stoner Justice, with tracks like “Circle of Heads,” “I Am the Weed” and “Full Blown Marijuana Addict.” Their sophomore effort sees more of the same, with 14 tracks in 24 minutes, including such gems as “Live to Smoke,” “Free the Weed” and my personal favourite, “Boulevard of Broken Bongs.”
“The Stoning” starts us off, with a straightforward Discharge d-beat devolving into a sludgier hardcore stomp, complete with heavy breakdowns and gurgling death-metal vocals. After a couple brief bursts of 40-to-65-second hardcore aggression, the aforementioned “Boulevard of Broken Bongs” slows things down considerably, a punishing slab of slowcore a la Killdozer, which is also somewhat akin to “Full Blown Marijuana Addict” from their debut.
“Weeding Out the Weak” also has a punishing slowcore pace, though this one’s much shorter at a minute 22. The likeminded “Live to Smoke” comes off as a cross between Weedeater and Noothgrush, while the sneering “I’d Rather Be Smoking Weed” definitely sounds like Dixie Dave in the vocal department, albeit with some faster hardcore tempos toward the end. I think they even sing in Spanish on “Mala Yierba,” whereas “Free the Weed” is their answer to Napalm Death’s “You Suffer” in all its three-second glory.
Normally, marijuana is something to be savoured slowly, but if you wanna burn one up quick and hop in a moshpit, this record’ll definitely do the trick.
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