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LIVE REVIEW: Weedeater @ The Flapper, Birmingham

North Carolina stoner metal doom lords WEEDEATER return to the UK to embark on another riff-filled tour, being one of the best doom bands to come out of the USA, weed eater are one of the many early doom metal bands to make an appearance to the scene, starting up in 1998 after singer and bassists from BUZZOV-EN disbanded, WEEDEATER have been killing the stoner doom scene ever since.

First to perform in this line up was BURDERN OF THE NOOSE who unleashed their monstrous sound filling the basement of The Flapper although leaning towards a similar sound a that CONJURER wield, with their thick bass filled riffs and hardcore type vocals makes for an very interesting sound and overall stimulating experience making a perfect opening band for this night.

Rating: 6/10

BongCauldron live @ The Flapper, Birmingham. Photo Credit: Andrew Rennie
BongCauldron live @ The Flapper, Birmingham. Photo Credit: Andrew Rennie

The second act of the night was Leeds’ finest doom band BONGCAULDRON. Keeping in line with a more traditional doom metal sound BONGCAULDRON destroyed the stage with their crushing and compelling riffs that viciously vibrated through the souls of fans and creating a fuzzy atmosphere that every doom fan loves to feel. Although not all leaning to the heavy and slow side of doom they do accelerate the pace at parts which could be compared to something from SLEEP or ELECTRIC WIZARD further adding from the diversity of the band’s sound.

Rating: 8/10

Conjurer live @ The Flapper, Birmingham. Photo Credit: Andrew Rennie
Conjurer live @ The Flapper, Birmingham. Photo Credit: Andrew Rennie

The third band to hit the stage was CONJURER, with their extremely upfront stage presence as each member aggressively moves around and expels energy to the crowd alongside this stage presence is a low down destructive heaviness that rings through the amplifiers creating a new level of density. The band’s sound seems to blend together heavier doom, with death metal influences which involves a much more modern metal sounding guitars. They predominantly stick with growling vocals, switching between high screams and rumbling low growls. Mixing all these aspects and unleashing it upon a stage creates one hell of an experience for the fans.

Rating: 8/10

Weedeater live Birmingham
Weedeater live @ The Flapper, Birmingham. Photo Credit: Andrew Rennie

Finally the last performance of the night and headliners, WEEDEATER take to the stage filling the room’s anticipation as they begin to satisfy every doom fan’s fuzzy bass needs, by unleashing riffs down on the people of The Flapper. The sound that they produced was thick, grizzly and everything you’d expect from a band as great as WEEDEATER as they have a classic doom feeling to them but yet they stand out to other sounds. When playing live WEEDEATER hold an incredible stage presence by switching the setup around, they often set the drum kit to be sideways to the crowd or having the drum kit facing away, this makes the fans much closer to the band and making the show more of an intimate experience which creates an amazing atmosphere, turning the first half of the venue into a giant mosh of doom.

Rating: 9/10

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