HEMPLIFIER
HEMPLIFIER “The Stoner Side of the Doom”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Well, you can sure tell from everything above that this is no sword and sorcery power metal album, that’s for sure. HEMPLIFIER display their affinity for weedy doom with gigantic neon letters you can see from the moon. Coming from the unusual locale of Malta, they are the latest doom/stoner contingent from the reliable Electric Valley label.
This reminds me a lot of labelmates CANCERVO in that HEMPLIFIER sure don’t overthink what they’re doing. Like the Italians, they play basic, almost moronic doom riffs with a lot of repetition and a focus on head-nodding groove instead of technicality. I think these guys are even heavier than CANCERVO, though, because there’s a ton of “Dopethrone”-style fuzz and crunch in the guitar. After the tension-inducing buildup of “Headless Chicken”, this is really heard on “Brujo”, which is the album’s best and most driving track. This really does equal ELECTRIC WIZARD and SLEEP at their fuzz-errific best.
Sometimes they kind of overdo the simplicity and the tension-building aspect of their sound. “Gort”, a tribute to the giant robot of 50’s sci-fi fame, is the album’s longest and it seems like two-thirds of it is a build leading up to a cathartic release. But is that release worthy of the buildup? For me, the answer is debatable. But following this track, “Weedcraft” shows HEMPLIFIER trying a song that is slightly more complex, with riffs that change and more vocals. Speaking of which, vocals are very much an afterthought here, although they are suitably intense when they do show up.
Nothing new under the green sun of stoner/doom riff worship, HEMPLIFIER deliver the red meat basics of the genre with gusto.