EVERY GENRE PROJECT - October 3 - Stoner Metal

Genre of the Day - Stoner Metal 

Album of the Day - Dopethrone by Electric Wizard (2000)

One of the favorite stoner lines of conversations asks who would be among one’s dream blunt rotation, as in, who would be the most interesting group of people to smoke with. Dream music rotation is just as important, though; as a substance that heightens focus on sensory perception, many users find that music is fundamentally enhanced while high. Abrasiveness and intensity are two of metal’s hallmarks. These are not qualities typically sought in music while high. However, there remain many stoner metalheads, so stoner metal fills the gap for those whose dream blunt rotation is set to the tune of smashing riffs. A little freaky-deaky for some, but to each their stone.

A guitar-shaped pipe.

The first twinges of the connection between cannabis and metal came in Black Sabbath’s 1971 track “Sweet Leaf,” an unsubtle ode to weed that begins with a tape recording of guitarist Tony Iommi coughing post-joint hit. Black Sabbath’s brooding, leaden doom metal became the ultimate sonic blueprint for stoner metal, which wouldn’t fully emerge in genre form until the early ‘90s. Though it might not have been the first to get around to legalizing it, California’s long-standing hippie and vaguely spiritual culture has arguably made it the most toker state in America since the ‘60s. It seems only fitting, then, that two of the defining early stoner metal bands in Kyuss and Sleep both hailed from the West Coast state. 

Stoner metal was deeply sludgey, referring to thick, heavy, drawn-out waves of fuzzy guitar sounds weaving through the record. Psychedelic rock is obviously a stoner mainstay, and lent a particular melodic and blues-indebted flair to the riffs of stoner metal. Some bands, like Elder, varied their floods of fuzz with lighter, intricate psychedelic meanderings; others leaned more towards the doom origins and delivered a non-stop flow of distortion. The genre suggests the sheer amount of sonic variation that can be teased out of different pedals; some level of familiarity with these effects helps develop a richer appreciation for the devotion of these musicians to their tone. Or a healthy dose of THC can similarly tune you in. 

Electric Wizard regularly passed around a healthy serving of three to four bongs before heading into the studio to transcribe their high visions on 2000’s Dopethrone. The opener seems to suggest that this is more for stoners with an iron-clad constitution who aren’t too easily frightened by the Lovecraftian themes (“Weird Tales / Electric Frost / Golgatha / Altar of Melektaus”) and morbid declarations like “Corporate maggots feed on the carrion / Funeralopolis, grey morgue apocalypse / Black clouds form to block out the sun” in “Funeralopolis.” The deep, gummy riffs on “Vinum Sabbathi” are scrumptious no matter your state of intoxication, a rich slow burn that extends even further on the ten-to-fifteen minute odysseys throughout the album. What could be seen by some as overconsumption may enhance their imagination in the songs’ realms, but it doesn’t dull their sharp-edged metal values; the strength of the riffs and the simple but pointed drumming introducing “I, The Witchfinder” could knock down a door. It’s a contemplative, dark mystery, perfect for a purple haze’s couch-locked session.