Sunday, April 3, 2011

WEEDEATER - Jason the Dragon CD review


WEEDEATER - Jason the Dragon CD
Southern Lord
Genre: Stoner Rock/Sludge
Rating: 2/5

Back in the early 80s the term "chasing the dragon" meant you were smoking heroin, preferably in a clean glass pipe. Of course any needle user will tell ya it's a waste of some good heroin to smoke it but then again who listens to junkies, they're losers. WEEDEATER on the other hand are stoners as exemplified by their past releases plus bassist/vocalist Dave "Dixie" Collins involvement with his other bands most notably BONGZILLA. I've seen or heard all of Dave "Dixie" Collins' bands over the years (WEEDEATER, BONGZILLA, SOURVEIN, HAIL HORNET and of course BUZZOV*EN). Some people like to call it the Wilmington, NC stoner aesthetic but for me it's all various degrees of BUZZOV*EN.

I live in NC so after so many years I just don't get all excited as say a hipster loser whose all into the new Indie Rock aka: Stoner/Sludge. I'm not saying that repeated listening or live shows have left me jaded. What I am saying is that I'm bored with it. I'm not alone either, how many people showed up to see BONGZILLA last time they rolled (pardon the pun) into town? Oh yeah and how well attended were those BUZZOV*EN reunion shows? Anyways the best thing about this latest is that there are a few choice cuts but most of it is after blow. The title cut is fucking phenomenal with Collins' massive bass groove while guitarist Dave Shepherd rips with his filthy guitar tone. I mean Collins, Shepherd and drummer Keith Kirkum are excellent at what they do, especially live, but on Jason the Dragon it's not all on here.

As far as the other decent numbers go there's "Hammerhandle" and "Mancoon" which hit you right after a boring opening cut "The Great Unfurling". Other than those two and the title cut there's not much left on here worthwhile. During "Whiskey Creek", which sounds like a banjo player in the swamp, I was hoping it would of ended with Collins screaming "get up in them woods" or maybe "now why don't you just drop them pants". For you hipsters reading this those are Deliverance movie references. So stay out of the swamps there hipster pansies. “March of the Bipolar Bear" is just a one minute drum solo by Kirkum. I mean overall this is ridiculous unless you like the diversity of it all. Although I'm guessing once people see who produced this dink then they'll rant and rave about it like giddy schoolgirls who just experienced their first period. There's an EP's worth of material on here the rest is filler.

Label: http://www.southernlord.com/


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/weedeater

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