Weedeater: Jason…The Dragon (Southern Lord, 3/1/11)
Weedeater: “Mancoon”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Weedeater_Mancoon.mp3|titles=Weedeater: “Mancoon”]
North Carolina-based Weedeater has always balanced its stoner- and sludge-metal aspirations with a wide-open embrace of not just Southern rock but Southern culture as well. Songs about Dale Earnhardt sit alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd covers; odes to mystical demons were right at home alongside ballads praising the band’s titular indulgence.
But despite some commendable efforts (especially the group’s previous disc, God Luck And Good Speed in 2007), these two directions never fully reconciled, and the band’s masterpiece always seemed just out of its reach. Jason…The Dragon, the group’s fourth full-length (and second for Southern Lord), doesn’t quite put the group over the top of the mountain, but it’s never for lack of trying.