I gotta hand it to this Vancouver outfit—as far as stoner band name puns go, Hashteroid is a pretty good one. But if you’re looking for Weedeater and Bongzilla worship from this trio’s debut, you might be mistaken. These guys take a faster-paced, punkier approach to stoner rock, more along the lines of The Shrine, Seattle stalwarts Zeke, or even their B.C. bros in Baptists.
“Freak Power” opens the album with some more mid-paced, 70’s rock grooves, but it’s not long before an up-tempo drumbeat propels them into punk-rock territory. Some catchy breakdowns and gang vocals on the chorus give us the best of both worlds. “Black Tide” combines groovy, up-tempo riffs with pissed off punk rock vocals, and maybe just a touch of Fu Manchu on the chorus. This five-and-a-half-minute number does have one slow section just shy of the four-minute mark, but for the most part, they pretty much put the pedal to the metal.
Six-minute “Stan the Wolfman” offers up shades of Motorhead in its gritty, jagged riffage, although the vocals are much more Mike Muir than Lemmy, and the slower section leading into the solo sounds more like The Shrine. “Green Caramel” or “Godspeed Below” wouldn’t sound out of place on Black Wizard’s latest, while “Cool Ghost” takes a proggier, space-rock approach, with some prominent synths around the five-minute mark.
The awesomely named “…Return to Hash Planet” might be the best tune on here, with some killer hardcore breakdowns, groovy verses and plenty of tempo changes. It’s much more suited for the mosh pit than the drum circle.
