METAL MANIACS review written by Nathan T. Birk
"Perhaps I was cold 'n' alone in thinking Weedeater's lauded And Justice for Y'all debut was an ambivalent listen, anchored by too many "aw shucks" Southern Rockisms and too-predictible lip-service paid to sludge-metal conventions, but I stand wholly corrected with the trio's latest Sixteen Tons monolith. As simple and fancy-free as their native Southern hospitality yet more so steeped in the swampy quagmires of that region's literary tradition ... say, Edgar Allen Poe or Tennessee Williams or Langston Hughes, or even Nick Cave's And the Ass Saw the Angel novel if you’re feeling particularly liberal... Sixteen Tons billows smoke 'n' exhaust at every wounded, ambling turn, stumblin' 'round all bleary-eyed and drunk on both sonic power and stiff moonshine while keeping the manic-depressive archetype of maximum-density sludge firmly entrenched...in, well, "sludge", ‘course. Ex-Buzzov*en mainman Dixie Dave being involved is already a firmly established fact and not much of an issue anymore, frankly, as the shuddering weight and emotional undercurrent ... as in *pulling you under*, all quicksand-like ... found on this slab(otage) of post-Sabbath sensory deprivation/nullification handily rivals (if not *surpasses*) anything him and his former employers could mount; and if I'm guessing correctly, what with the 'Oven's longstanding cult status, no better of a recommendation can be made. Curiously enough, the press bio throws in a mention of Cathedral's Forest of Equilibrium, and as haphazard as such a parallel seemingly sounds, it's not too far off the mark in regards to Sixteen Tons, as Weedeater have admirably located a propensity to stretch chords for all their (ghostly) worth, every shard of sonic debris spiraling toward that penultimate abyss; when it all comes down (down, down...) to it, any particular band/record largely hinges upon *feeling*, and nowhere is this necessity truer than in the sludge-metal milieu. And yee haw, Weedeater accomplish exactly that here ... thus, closer to Birmingham, England than Birmingham, Alabama."
ZERO Magazine:
"Out of the ashes of Buzzoven comes frontman/bass player extraordinaire Dixie's new band Weedeater. Fuzzed-out stoner/doom rock is what Weedeater is all about. This shit is not for the weak; this is how the world sounds after a week of partying or five pot brownies later. It's a CD that kind of hypnotizes you. Everything is slower, everything is heavier, and the true evil of the world is delivered through Weedeater. The second song starts with a sample " I was born in South Carolina, I can't read," and then just pummels into the song "Pot Belly", which takes your world and snaps you into two. On the fourth song "Dummy" they go into a super psychedelic heavy jam song. It sounds like a mix between Butthole Surfers and the Melvins fighting over the last fix. Personally I like the shorter songs when Weedeater just smashes you with three minutes of absolute heaviness, but I can handle sitting through an eight to 12 minute song from these guys. If heavy sludge is your thing, Weedeater will satisfy the fix."
TERRORIZER Magazine:
"While the commanding presence of ex-BUZZOV-EN man Dixie Dave heightened the bloodshot Southern boogie of WEEDEATER's debut into the outskirts of demonic,nauseous swamp-sludge,this aptly-named second album emphasises raw doom atmospherics over the 'good ol' boy' rawk-posturing,to much greater effect. "16 Tons" rumbles and heaves like a bloated stomach full of undercooked Cajun chicken and whiskey, WEEDEATER really bringing biliousness New Orleans-style direct to your doorstep. Dixie's vocals are positively inhuman,sometimes sounding like the heavily dopesick winner in a Mardi Gras Count Grishnackh Impersonator competition. 'Lines', a shuddering doom-dirge of Lovecraftian proportions, is my favorite,along with "Woe Is Me", a creepy graveyard-blues punctuating the surrounding riffage like WEEDEATER's own 'Snowblind'. 'Buzz', with it's strung out black-wave of a riff, brings to mind a less friendly HIGH ON FIRE, while elsewhere FU MANCHU are miraculously melded to NECROPHAGIA to create a sensation comparable to a pot-fueled beach-party being overrun by zombies.WEEDEATER's brand of swamp-doom takes the EYEHATEGOD and BUZZOV*EN Southern sludge fundamentals to whole new places, with Billy Anderson's characteristically black mixing-desk magic adding a final layer of crust to an already-fetid listening experience - the first great 'queasy listening' album of 2002."
ROADBURN Magazine:
"If you had the pleasure of catching Weedeater on their recent (seemingly endless) tour, you know exactly what to expect from this record. If you didn't catch them, take a look at the album title and that'll give you an idea. Heavy. Heavy as shit. Heavy as hell. As heavy as... any album since "Come My Fanatics". No kidding.
If you heard the first Weedeater "And Justice For Y'all..." then you NEED to hear this record. You need to because the heaviness that was implied by the songs on the first record is realized by the sound on "16 Tons". It probably could have been called 100 Tons and that still wouldn't overdo it. Dixie Dave has put out the heaviest, most sludged out music of his career. Which is saying something considering he was in Buzzoven. Big slow riffs drenched in warm distortion ooze out of the speakers and slowly smother the air in the room. An unsettling evilness pervades the whole record and the smell of swampy things creeps in like a hot breeze on a humid night.
This is a visceral album but it is also musical. The riffs flow smoothly from one to another and slow blues tracks like "Woe's Me" and "Kira Mae" sound very real and convincing. These were not contrived tracks to give the album some diversity, they are real. Besides the great songs, the sound of this record is virtually perfect. Billy Anderson has once again made distorted electric guitars sound as good as they ever have. His penchant for sliding the vocals toward the background works perfectly with Dixie's evil incarnate rasp, letting it thicken up the overall sound while still sounding distinct. Get this and get heavily evil."
WHITE TRASH DEVIL webzine:
"For those that didn't hear Weedeater's last CD ...And Justice For Y'all, I suggest you run out and buy it right now because you'll have to wait until March to buy this one. Justice was a fuckin' masterpiece of downtuned, home-grown, southern-fried sludge with whiskey-soaked vocals and should've been heralded as the best disc of 2000 by anyone who had half a brain and a copy of the CD. 16 Tons is even better. Weedeater take their already original sound and just make it more crushing. It's slow at times, it's fast at others, but all of it is just absolutely earth-shattering in comparison to any other band, in any genre. (On a side note, I heard that Pepper Keenan told people to check out Weedeater on VH1 awhile ago. I missed it but if anyone has a tape of the show email me. I want a copy.) Back to 16 Tons. Weedeater threw me a curveball with the track "Woe Is Me", a song where Dixie talks/sings over a sparse acoustic guitar and bass line. When I think of Weedeater I think of massive amounts of fuzz, from the bass and guitar to the vocals, but the song is still heavier than anything you would hear on MTVX. It is actually my favorite song on the disc after 10 million listens.
This is a band you must check out. Go buy ...And Justice For Y'all and I guarantee you will have to have 16 Tons in your CD collection when it gets released. This is one of the only CDs I will actually buy when it gets released..Hey, this is probably the first Weedeater review that didn't mention that Dixie was in Buzzov-en ... oh wait, nevermind."
PUNKROCKS.net:
"Yes friends, Mr. Buzzoven himself, Dave ''Dixie' Collins, and cohorts have their hands firmly planted on the bong of America, and chances are they won't be exhaling anytime soon. Like the bastard love child of Cocknoose and Electric Wizard... sludgy as fuck and worth of single 'ounce' of your time. While stoner rock hacks on the shake of Orange Goblin and Grand Magus, Weedeater are primed on a diet of Budweiser and hash... thoroughly crushing heaviness that is as invigorating as it is placating. It reminds me of the old days... I can almost hear my buddy Ryan in the background choking out ''ere..dudedude'ere, heredude' as he maneuvers a stoking Simi Valley bowl my way. Fans of sludgy metal, heavy stoner vibes or just plain chunky Southern riffs should pick this up immediately. Even if you have never indulged in the cheeba, 'Sixteen Tons' is a jam-packed rifforama that will leave you intoxicated, without the paranoia. Don't choke on this onethis is an experience to be savored over and over again."
PLANET FUZZ:
"To me, this Weedeater disc was my most anticipated release of 2002 so far, 2nd only to Electric Wizard’s "Let Us Prey" disc...but holy shit, this disc is a behemoth...be prepared to get your ass kicked every which way possible. Right from the intro riff of "Bull" I knew that this disc would be glued to my stereo for months. Ultimately heavy just as Weedeater are, the songs haven’t changed much from "And Justice for Y’all", but the sludge is that fiercer, and the grooves heavier than you could even imagine. Yes, the trademark Billy Anderson sound is evident here, especially on the swooshing, blood-gurgling vocals of Dixie Dave, and on the chest cavity guitar and bass frequencies. Lots cool answering machine and b-movie samples scattered amid rumbling bass and feedback give it that real creepy Buzzov-en feel throughout the whole disc. The punishment continues with "Potbelly", "Time Served", the NASCAR inspired "#3", "Buzz" and the frighteningly slow motion "Riff"; and it doesn't quit until "Kira May" (think of Stonerwitch era Melvin's "Shevil" and you’ll get some idea), a wicked little bass-only track that brings this disc to a close. Even without the wall of fuzz, they're still unbelievably heavy. Check out "Woe's me", and Johnny Cash will even agree, Dixie Dave is the new Man in Black. As if the music wasn’t enough, poster artist Arik Roper (Core, Nebula, etc) did some killer work on this son of a bitch. Southern salvation is here brothers and sisters, bow down to the mighty Weedeater."
LOLLIPOP Magazine written by Craig Regala:
"16 tons and whatta ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt." Fuck yeah. Weedeater articulates the frustration and despair of being trapped in a mere body of nerves and bone with the modern rock version of the blues; grinding doom.Returning the blues heft and sway to the roots of Sabbath, subtracting anything that dos not resemble a man coming out of the mine carrying a pickax after his 4th 10 hour shift ,16 ton growls and lurches with a perfect symmetry. The songs exist as songs, although you're gonna get the way rasped/grind vocal on most of it so you aren’t gonna choose tunes by pop melodies. The 6th cut "woe's me" makes the blues connection explicit-it's a slow undercast cleanly picked tune. The last cut is an instrumental, kira may and is pretty much all bass; it comes off as an elegy of sorts. I find this soothing and musical the same way thrash in the 80's acted like ritalin; it bring certain focus by equaling the squalling hum in my brain, bringing balance. Once again another good one from Berserker/Crucial Blast, what a great catalog, they really are becoming the Touch & Go for this century."
STONER ROCK.com written by Rob Wrong:
"Wow,what can I say except to start out saying that this shit with Billy Anderson production and all really tears your head off from the get go.And for those of you that know nothing of WEEDEATER…WEEDEATER is a heavy ass southern 3 piece dirge rock band with ex BUZZOVEN bassist Dixie Dave fronting the outfit with his blood thinning vocals that even the guys in Neurosis could be jealous of. The riffs on this record are thick and slow with big fat grooves...the same kind of big fat grooves that long board surfers look for in waves. One riff is all that it takes sometimes. If you have heard the CD that WEEDEATER did before this one called And Justice For Y'all, then you know what I mean. This new record is that tenfold...The first cut sinks you in right away,and the serious low end production is evident from the start. The song is one of my faves, 'Bull', and reels you in with it's heaviness and thick tones. Southern blues guitar solos done by the other Dave thrown in here and there and slamming drums (Keko) that have to be seen live to appreciate. These guys care about the heavy rock and pave a road of destruction in their paths that they travel, like I said it must be seen live. If you truly like heavy rock ala BONGZILLA, MELVINS...then this is the CD for you.It truly captures the live intensity that makes WEEDEATER a fine band and is just a damn fine heavy rock and roll soul evil record period."
CUSTOM HEAVY:
"Did someone replace Dixie Dave's worn out copy of Nuthin Fancy and replace it with CATHEDRAL's Forest Of Equilibrium? 'Cause WEEDEATER's latest slab of dirt-clogged heaviness is a much more dirgy, doomy affair than "And Justice For Y'All" . 16 Tons hasn't left my stereo since getting this little gem a little over a day ago. It's a pretty fitting title, because the heaviness factor of this record is up in the 16-ton range. Everything you loved about And Justice For Y'All has been juiced up and force fed a diet of gravy-downed mashed potatoes, motor oil and anabolic steroids. From the get-go, you know this album is gonna tear off your head and hand it back to you on a greasy plate. Producer Billy Anderson has once again done an amazing job in giving WEEDEATER that grenade-exploding-in-a-bucket-of-tar sound. Vocally, Dixie sounds even more pissed than the ramblings he screeched out on the last record. Imagine a rabid lion with it's balls caught in a shop vac and that may sound half as demonic as Dixie's crooning. While the tempos have been slowed down, the Skynyrd-laced riffs are still intact, but the dirge-like rhythms make them seem all the more heavier.I’d also be remissed if I didn’t mention the fact that Pepper Keenan of COC plugged these guys on national television last year when he told viewers to pick up And Justice For Y'All on Muchmusic's Loud program."
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