Dopethrone’s third release, III, may not drop your jaw with album title creativity, but would you rather that time go into an album moniker or conjuring up a nasty batch of inebriated riffs heavier than a frozen mammoth? III is the exact number of times I lost control during my preliminary listen in my office and started headbanging at my desk. My co-workers are conditioned to ignore this by now.
I’ll admit I haven’t visited Montréal since the Expos were still in town, but if this music is any indication the city has become the feeding ground for some renegade demon who smokes cursed hash out of the skulls of god-fearing Christians. Dopethrone must rehearse their impossibly infectious sludge in a prehistoric cave somewhere barely out of the demon’s reach, war-painted with the black resin scraped from the shotgun barrels they resourcefully use as lethal bongs. They almost named this album “Hooked,” and for good reason. Not only is ”Hooked,” the opening track, one of the very best stoner songs I’ve ever heard, but this album will also have you twitching in withdrawal if significant times passes without Vince Houde’s riffs oozing into your ear holes.
Dopethrone’s brand of muddy, sinister doom laced with bluesy grooves rooted in denim-clad classic rock has never been more focused. These songs swagger and stomp with monstrous confidence, drooling beer and exhaling purple smoke in stride. While Houd’s vocals may send those unaccustomed to the harshest snarls scrambling for sanctuary, I delight in their putridity. It sounds like he pours moonshine on his breakfast cereal, sweetens it with basement-cooked meth, then washes it down with a pint of rusty razors. I feel like every hellish creature from the Spawn animated series should have been voiced by this dude. This music will grow a beard on a newborn baby.
There is also a recognizable sense of joy on this album; from the tongue-in-cheek audio samples to the grin-inducing song title “Devil’s Dandruff,” this is a band that wants you in on the joke. That doesn’t mean the songwriting lacks discipline, because each track earns its length (especially the colossal ten minute cut “Reverb Deep”). Just sometimes it takes a band like Dopethrone to remind us that some of the best heavy music is created by friends enjoying a six-pack or five, writing songs to amuse themselves and each other. Doom does not necessarily need to include gloom. Dopethrone’s III will make you happily groove to the sound of your own soul being ripped from your gaping pie-hole.
I must also state that as a completely DIY entity I have a huge amount of respect for Dopethrone. They will be at The Acheron in Brooklyn on March 30th and are well-worth the venture into Bushwick, where the sidewalks are perpetually littered with broken glass and dog shit. Hell, if there’s a way to smoke whatever you bring in on the bottom of your boots I’m sure these guys can teach you a trick or two.
Listen to Dopethrone immediately and purchase this amazing album for $6.66 at: http://dopethrone.bandcamp.com/
And become their favoritest Facebook follower over at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dopethrone/201732593171312
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