Each Birth Is a New Disaster

Wouldn't you just love to snuggle up with the warm tone of an Orange amp at night? I could sleep through this. Do you think that simple fuzz pedals have an inherent value? The pedal's not the only thing with two holes and a knob. Tone-basking checklist aside, the production is fair enough on this album, the music is just dead boring. You'll have to deconstruct the definition of riff to excuse this shit, it's stoned alt rock with a few riffs stolen from Matt Pike. t's a trash can with the components of doom metal in it, but it's not the cheesy B-flick horror of Black Sabbath, it's a kid mashing a tritone who think he's cool because he's playing an organ. Instead of conveying a state of doom, it just revels in the boom of their tube amps. Boom metal. I think that's what I'll call it from now on. Unless you're absolutely in love with any bassy rumble and ready to apologize for every failing of an album because you feel they're doing the right thing, there's little to redeem a guitarist whose two moves are a downtuned drone and a power chord. Most egregious, the drummer basically bounces down a row of toms and constantly rides a crash cymbal - it's like he's trying to channel a constant state of burnout. To sum it up, there's a good riff to start track 4, after which you realize that the 37-minute runtime feels like at least an hour.

I'm a pretty big fan of repetition and process. The accent on hypnotic, rather than memorable, is a huge draw for me. However, the art of hypnotism lies in the fact that the victim must not realize how drawn in he or she is. It's not an entirely difficult thing to learn, but it can be incredibly difficult to master, as the saying goes. Yob is a master of this, as are bands like Jesu, Xasthur, Isis, Reverend Bizarre, and Black Boned Angel. Seemingly so, to be a master of a style, you must devote oneself to the style. Weirding seem to be crossed between two worlds and two minds when it comes to the hybrid of hypnotism and heaviness. See, on one hand, they have the "stoner" tag (an abhorred label as anything) which accounts for the moments of clarity and even light-heartedness (the opener has a fantastic shift about halfway through that absolutely crushes in its catchiness). On the other hand is the "sludge" label - which seems to be as useful at whittling down a sound as labeling things metal these last couple of years. This accounts for the feedback drenched hardcore riffs found on songs like "As a Crown" and "His Throne". These two elements would be utterly ass kicking on their own, but the combination comes off a bit uneven.

The reverb drenched vocals don't always fit in with the rocking riffs, and the clash in atmosphere can be a bit jarring at times, which results in being taken out of the moment - a crucial misfire for a stoner band. The opener, and "His Throne" have these intensely heavy moments that are just kinda juxtaposed with anti-riffs and shouts that may work for a straight forward sludge band, but in the context of using groove, it just doesn't work as effectively as it should.

However, when they do meld perfectly together, it is actually really damn good. "Hard Witch/Heavy Spells" is a particularly good example of this - memorable riffs mixed with crushing tempo shifts and droning buzzes that linger on while a low end solo just sort of plods over. The effect is draining, catchy, and really damn heavy. "Creeping in on the Heel/Love Theme from Weirding" is a great instrumental that gallops across a classic heavy metal riff with a truly excellent solo, and then crashes right into the tectonic riffs of the latter half - it's a veritable PB&J of the two genres from which the band cherry-picks. Oh yeah, and "Drowning in Flame" is a great homage to classic metal but ran through tons of pedals - with a not quite clean, but definitely less distorted lead guitar offering up a solo that is oddly reminiscent of a Marduk riff I can't put my finger on.

So, it's certainly not a terrible effort - but it feels a bit incomplete, and they could've shaved off a few minutes here and there. It doesn't quite have that plodding, heavy plate shifting "stoner" (blah) atmosphere of the great bands of the genre, and it's lacking the punching, caveman riffs of the monsters of sludge, but it does offer up some really fantastic moments here and there. It's I think that as a whole, it's a solid first effort that demonstrate an ear for composition, even if it's lacking an eye for depth. Would recommend to diehards.

From British Colombia, Weirding's first full length was released four years ago and while I have some reservations concerning it, it's still an album that managed to blend many particular influences and it wasn't the worst things I managed to discover this week.

Releasing a LP before experimenting with demos is always a bit tacky even though access to (cheap and proficient) recording gear is way easier than it used to be. Admittedly, This band should have released some demos before this full length since I think the production frankly blows. It has way too much distortion, the bass' feedback and huge presence is simply not quite enjoyable and it doesn't quite fully fit the genre they (try) to play.

I don't think it's an appropriate production for a full album but it gives a dirty/DIY sound to the doomy stoner/sludge found on their debut and that's not always a negative thing. Weirding could benefit from a heavier than thou production since that's the sound they're going for. This production can't compare to the massive hitters of the scene (thinking of Ufomammut for instance). The immense and sometimes earth shattering is often the weapon of predilection of a stoner band and I can't that I was shattered enough with Each Birth... The sound of this album can be compared to Mastodon's excellent debut minus the trampled under hoof production. I guess I'm sort of picky as I want my doom/stoner/whatever to sound like a freaking two tons rock but eh!

Nonetheless, The trio is certainly composed of tight musicians, the sole guitar attack is fun enough and doesn't need any extra help to get the band's point across. The drums are quite impressive albeit a bit too low in the mix but they're a good complement to the mid paced to fast sound delivered without a break here. The guitarist, Tim Wearing (weirding?) is also the singer and he's sort of okay. He uses the sort of semi harsh vocals, an approach that's quite generic for the genre they play but it works well in this context. They're rightfully placed in the mix and aren't too obnoxious or overly present. I think they should be way harsher or cleaner though, they're stuck in a middle zone and could benefit from a “think outside the box” option. It would give them some originality as there's plenty of (better) bands evolving in their genre. They could be more psychedelic and be a bit more complex

The songwriting, as mentioned in the introduction is a bit all over the place but due to the poorness of the production (or perhaps its ability to make everything sound fairly the same) it's not that apparent. They go from modern stoner metal/rock to sludge quite often and, weirdly, the best track on the album (“Drowning in Flame”) is the one that branched out into stoner catchy territories. Sometimes, the riffs just don't fit the thin and harsh production, it's quite a bit groovy and almost joyful at times even though they probably didn't want to sound like that.

What I hear is a band that has yet to find its right sound and has some difficulties concerning their approach towards how they should present themselves. Their songs aren't bad but they're not memorable either. It's a decent debut album from a band that needs to work on its craft a little, check it out if you're a big stoner/sludge/doom aficionado.

Metantoine's Magickal Realm

"What? It's psychedelic AND stoner metal? Man, sounds like Hawkwind but heavier, fuckin alriiiiight maaaan let's blaze to this shit"

You know, I'm kind of getting sick of the "stoner" tag that tends to frequently categorize music of this sort. At the end of the day, it doesn't really say anything about the music other than letting you know that it probably has the potential to bore you. Sure, adding the word 'stoner' (and to a lesser degree 'psychedelic') might get a few baked burnouts to give your music a try, and they'll probably be less critical of it given how ripped they are. However, in reality, 'psychedelic' usually just means there's a few lazy keyboard effects overtop of the riffs every now and then, with the "stoner" tag describing the character of the riffs. There's a few specific qualities stoner metal riffs have, although these traits obviously overlap into other genres. The guitar tone is thick and fuzzy, in hopes that your stoned opinions of how amazing said tone is will lead you to forget there's not actually a lot going on in the riffs. Songs develop really, really slowly (because you're too stoned to pay attention to energetic and diverse music). These traits are what make up the core of stoner metal, a genre that has tricked hundreds of people into buying albums based on a cool aesthetic when the music itself has absolutely no talent nor depth to it (aside from the PHAT BASS of course). Now, this this is by no means a way of putting myself above the crowd of bongrippers that buy this sort of stuff. For chrissakes, the first idea I had when I got stoned for the first time was to pull out my iPod and listen to Dopethrone, I'm closer to the target audience than the people I criticize. I like simple, repetitive music with a nice guitar tone and gradual song development, and I also like heavy shit. AND I smoke weed! Goddamn, this shit should be my jam day in day out. So why do I spent more of my time listening to blastbeat-happy feels metal than I do bluesy, groovy stoner metal? Well, let's find out, with this album from dirty Vancouver hippies Weirding being our focal point. But first, I'm gonna smoke a bowl.

Aaand we're back. Weirding have a winding, wandering pace to their songs that superficially brings Neurosis to mind, but the music on Each Birth is a New Disaster is pretty consistently upbeat in comparison and uses a less broad palate of ideas than the sludge pioneers. This ends up bearing a much more closer resemblance to driving stoner rock a la Clutch or even Queens of the Stone Age. Oh, and also Sabbath. A lot of Sabbath. Do I even need to say that? doom metal, and to an extent stoner metal/rock could be lumped into the umbrella genre of "Black Sabbath metal" and no one would bat an eyelash. There is a sludgy tone to this, though, and it particularly comes through in the vocalist. I assume opinions on his delivery will be divisive, but I personally think he does what he does well. His vocals consist of gravelly sung segments frequently interspersed with a raw, moaning sort of yell. It's kind of like Mastodon vocals if they were all chain-smokers, or perhaps like Eyehategod but with a little less of that "I can't find my goddamn heroin" feel. There are the occasional moments worthy of a slight cringe where he just sounds out of breath, but it adds to the overall charm of the delivery for me.

The majority of this album is slow, low and trudging, but the overall tone in the riffs is somewhat playful. This may be partially the fault of the somewhat thin production of the album. When your music is heavy and your riffs don't have a particularly high amount of technical skill involved, (as is usually the case with stoner metal) you gotta beef them up in the studio. It's certainly not the most monstrous tone I've ever heard, but that being said it does have a certain prickly nature to it that gives it a resonating bite. This is perhaps the only other place you can hear the sludge coming out, although it's much more of an unintentional influence I would think. When this band gets more upbeat and rockin' the results are actually pretty enticing. "Drowning in Flame" rides on the back of a delicious riff for most of the song, but admittedly the majority of the album doesn't really sound very similar to that track. Most of the time it continues along at a turtle's pace, building atmosphere in that extremely minimal and uninteresting way stoner bands love to do. It just takes them a long time to think up cool riffs. Be patient.

Perhaps that's really what's holding this band back in the end. The thin production wouldn't be as much of an issue if Weirding didn't write so many minimalistic riffs that are reliant on a thick tone to get the message through. In a bitter twist of irony, it seems that Weirding actually end up creating the most atmosphere in their music during the sections of songs the band meant to be the least atmospheric. Unfortunately, Each Birth is a New Disaster spends more of its time slowly constructing atmosphere and building into riffs than it does unleashing the beast. Albums in this style fall victim to this sort of thing pretty often, with the ideas present in the music not nearly being substantial enough to justify the album's runtime. There's some good ideas lurking here and there on this album, and all is stitched together in a pretty cohesive fabric that has a pretty nice sound when it gets going in the right way, but rarely does this album ever actually get a good groove going, despite its many attempts to do so. Weirding straddle the line of every stoner genre you can think of (doom, sludge, occult rock) in an attempt to be the perfect blend of it all, but too much time spent cultivating an atmosphere leaves this band as an undefinable and somewhat amateurish hybrid band, with a few standout moments. Give it a listen if your craving for slow'n'low riffs bears similarity to a heroin withdrawal.

The first thought that crossed my mind while the first track was playing was why in the hell would they think it was a good idea to release this as a full on album? Look, there are some pretty good ideas here and loads of potential, but this is just a (particularly long) demo by any other name. Judging by the production, I wouldn't be surprised if this was recorded in one of the members basements over a few beers and plenty of bong rips. Each Birth is a New Disaster is undeniably sloppy, but this somewhat lends to their charm. A crowning artistic achievement this is not, but this is fairly fun to listen to if only because it evokes fun times drunkenly spent at sketchy basement gigs.

I've rated this a bit higher than most would, and I think a lot of this has to do with being a total sucker for that melting pot of all that is slow and heavy style. A lot of closely related sub-styles bleed into each other here, but their predominant vice is stoner metal. From what limited exposure Weirding has gotten, it seems like they are most often pegged as a sludge group. This is not too surprising given that the production lends more to the raw sludge style - especially the guitar tone. Don't get me wrong, sludge is totally a part of their sound, but at their core, this is definitely stoner metal. More traditional doom stylings loiter on the sidelines and even a Neurosis influence can be detected in the frequent tom-heavy drum patterns. I wouldn't be surprised if the vocalist went on frequent Mastodon binges. While some parts out shadow others, there are certainly some cool highlights here. From the killer bass line in the opening track to that ludicrously fun upbeat riff on "Hard Witch/Heavy Spells" (you'll know which one), there are some good times to be had here.

While there are some cool ideas here, it really would have been in their best interest if they cut three of the tracks and released it as a demo. This is simply not album quality material. Look, this is definitely the type of shit that can get away with being a tad raw and unprofessional. Hell, a little sloppiness can be totally endearing and even expected at times. The main problem I have is these dudes totally have the potential to stand above the hordes of listenable but middle of the road raw sludge/doom/stoner ect. bands. I'm not asking for pristine modern production here (that would actually sound quite stupid), but this deserves a recording that sounds better than someone leaving the tape on during a routine rehearsal. This is noticeable more than anywhere else in the drum work. This guy definitely has chops for a demo quality band, but a lot of this is counteracted by how friggin' muffled the drums sound. The tribalesque drum jam in "Drowning in Flame" could have been one of the highlights of the whole damn album, but the production ends up stripping them of their power.

This is perfectly acceptable for sloppy DIY sludgy stoner fun, but I just think this band deserves to be more than that. They come off as one of those local bands that would be fun to see live but haven't quite figured out how to translate that into a good recording. This is actually pretty cool for a demo and exactly the type of degenerate shit I like, but I don't know what the fuck they were thinking releasing it as a full length album. While the sloppiness has its charm, I hope they hit the woodshed and spew forth something more precise and put together for their second coming. Oh well, at the very least these guys would be damn fun to see live and I'd totally turn up to one of their shows if I lived in the area.

Unlike most BC stoner/doom bands, I know virtually nothing about Weirding; never seen a show, don’t know any of the members, don’t know what the current state of the band is, etc. I guess they’re not as active as some of their up-and-coming contemporaries, and maybe this album, Each Birth is a New Disaster, will be the only one they put out.

I was led to believe the band played sludge, but I can’t seem find any actual sludge on the album. I guess the muggy production makes everything, especially the vocals, sound harsher than it ought to, but the music’s fairly basic slow-to-mid-paced catchy-ish heavy stoner/doom. The opener, “Bastard”, is essentially a prolonged build-up but doesn’t actually make a very strong first impression; there aren’t any real riffs to mention, just some miscellaneous strumming and drums, which don’t lead to a very satisfying payoff. I much prefer the more structured, slightly faster songs, like “As a Crown” and “Hard Witch/Heavy Spells”, which both offer more replay value thanks to a more rockin’ pace and riffs one could headbang to. The instrumental, “Creeping in on the Heel”, is also a highlight even though it’s a very simple riff that’s milked for a while – it’s heavy, bassy, and playful in a jammy Paranoid kind of way. I think the band sounds more at home during these shorter, livelier numbers, than they do when they slow things down for the sake of heaviness.

In all, this is a fairly competent debut for Weirding, but it could do more to instill an identity for the band. It doesn’t necessarily go in one ear and out the other, but it isn’t wholly memorable, either. I’m also not terribly fond of the vocals, which are an unchanging distorted shout. That said, there’s glimmers of proficiency throughout this fairly brief album, and I’d probably check out a second release if one ever comes about.