Turning Water Into Weed...

Green Fiend / Toke - Ritual Substance Abuse (2016)

Teaming up two groups from North Carolina, and delivering two tracks from each, this split of stoner-toned heaviness (as if you couldn't guess from the band names, release name, and artwork) bubbles into action with a sound highly familiar to its target demographic before launching into the hard, chunky riffs.  Green Fiend take the A-side with "Purge", a blistering heavy-tear ride through extra-tuneful riffs and swampy bass menace; and "Cocaine", which lays out a more traditional BSabbath-influenced lick before giving J.J. Cale's classic tune a thoroughly sludgy treatment.
Over on the B-side, Toke pack "Four Hours For Hours", a low-swinging doomy track with some sludge to the vocals and guitar tone, throwing in some rougher breakdowns before its end; and "Legalize Sin", a stormer with what some might hear as DNA from Weedeater's meaner moments flowing through its beats, riffage, and howl-growls.
Good licks to both sides, room for some instrumental exploration, and rhythms to get your body swaying along make this a good set of tracks for those looking to get introduced to either band, and while the original mercury silver cassette run has already sold out, there's rumors of a vinyl pressing in the works, so keep your ears tuned for chances to pre-order that.  In the mean-time, you can snag digital copies of the tracks from the respective BandCamps of the two groups, so get on that if you're in the mood for some dirty, hard-edged stoner doom.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Acid Witch, Chronobot, Fudge Tunnel, King Heavy, Weedeater

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Green Fiend - Purge (320 kbps)

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Sparking Up Again...

Toke - Unchaining / Return Rip (2015)

Toke have been releasing material at a steady clip for the past few years, and with each new set of songs, they offer listeners another angle on their channeling of stoner doom metal.  Their latest pair, "Return Rip" and "Unchaining", delivers 13 minutes of solid Black Sabbath adoration, with heavy but clean(ish) strings backed up by a steady bash from the drummer.  The vocals take a more modern tack, going the Dopethrone or Weedeater route of harsh and smoke-stained singing over the impacts and resonance.  "Return Rip" is the big boy of the two tracks, running about twice the length of "Unchaining", but both are sure to scratch away at your classic stoner doom itch.  As of now, the band has already put out another single, "Into the Light" (a reworking of an older piece), so if you haven't already checked the band out, you've got a few prime opportunities to get with it already.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Bitchcraft, Celophys, Dopethrone, Moon Curse, Weedeater

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Toke - Unchaining (320 kbps)

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Spreading The Flames...

Toke - High Friends In Low Places EP (2014)

Following up the pair of tracks from their first demo, North Carolina's stoner metal band Toke present two more tracks from their new EP. The first, “Into The Light”, mixes reverb-heavy riffage with thumping drums, while the vocals emerge in a rough howl. They continue to occupy a very satisfying space in the stoner doom spectrum, moving slowly enough to savor each crushing tone-wave, but not so slow as to make you forget how they got their; they keep those riffs moving, and when they do launch into the higher speeds, it's coated with enough tarry buzz to stay true.

“Great Awakening” is the other half of the digital release (there's 8 more minutes of material on the CD copies, though those seem to be available only at live shows), and it keeps the tone low and doomed out, though there is more energy pushing it forward, especially in the increased wildness of the vocals. Both tracks should be make any fan of traditional stoner doom metal more than happy, and luckily there's plans in the works for vinyl/cassette copies of the EP, so keep your ears tuned this way for more news on that as it develops.

~ Gabriel

For Fans Of; Acid King, Salem's Pot, Olde Growth, Cough, Black Sabbath

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Toke - Great Awakening (320 kbps)

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Toke Has Arrived...

Toke - Demo (2014)

This two-track demo from North Carolina's fledgling Toke allows the band to show off their skills in a way that's quick without cutting down on content. Their self-titled track is a fine balance between traditional doom and stoner metal, with some harshness evocative of Cough or EyeHateGod's attitude once the vocals kick their way into the mix. The drums are on-point, the guitar does a great job of flipping between hazy feedback and sharp (for stoner metal, that is) precision, while the bass provides an almost subliminal foundation.

The second track, “Winter Wizard”, has kind of a Pentagram-meets-Deep Purple feel to it, with some snazzy finger-work on the guitar as the song plows itself into a momentum that builds and builds; for some reason, it was easy to imagine the band performing this one while on top of a train speeding over frozen rails. There's some sense of unrelenting force providing the push behind the bleary-eyed grooves, and both songs have a great sense of the band plotting out the structures, then adding their own extra touches to it during the recording process. If this is their starting point, then Toke seems destined for some major riffage, legendary albums, and memorable song names.

~ Gabriel

For Fans Of; Cough, Black Sabbath, Church Of Misery, Olde Growth, Acid King

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Toke - Toke (320 kbps)

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