There’s something about the lysergic haze of “Palms of Opium” that gets me every time I hear it. It’s like if you put Tiny Tim through a multi-dimensional meatgrinder, and given the hell Weedeater unleashes on either side of that song on their fourth album, Jason… the Dragon, it’s all the more a standout. The North Carolinian trio of bassist/vocalist “Dixie” Dave Collins, guitarist Dave “Shep” Shepard and drummer Keith “Keko” Kirkum survived broken bones and blown-off toes to get the Steve Albini-recorded full-length out the door, and when it hit in March — at least as someone listening who didn’t actually have to live through any of it — it was worth every minute of the hardship and impatient wait.

Weedeater‘s last album, 2007’s God Luck and Good Speed (which was also released through Southern Lord), saw the band begin to expand the reach of their ultra-fuzzed sludge, and on Jason… the Dragon, they took their sound to new places altogether, whether it was incorporating the guitar melody of “Homecoming,” or just ripping through the entire first half of the album live in the studio. From “The Great Unfurling” through the title-track, Weedeater were as raw and visceral as anyone could ever ask sludge to be, and a simple song like “Mancoon” or the plodding “Turkey Warlock” — which originally appeared on Shifty Records‘ Crushers Killers Destroyers II compilation in 2004 — hit that much harder for the energy that the band and Albini were able to capture on tape.

Front to back, Jason… the Dragon was just a really strong record — and in precisely the right way. They tweaked some little things in their approach and definitely were making an attempt to branch out musically, but Weedeater knew too what worked best about their style and kept more than enough of that to satisfy their audience, and most importantly, themselves. With each new album a band puts out, there are going to be people who favor the one before, or the one before that, but I think Jason… the Dragon more than stands up to Weedeater‘s back catalog, maybe even surpassing it in terms of killer grooves and memorable songs. Wherever it sits on your list of favorites, they nailed this one.

Tags: North Carolina, Southern Lord, TFFH11, Weedeater

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.