To many, a producer works solely during the recordings, as the guy who sits behind the sound devices to make everything work. That's a wrong idea, because the producer's work goes beyond that. A producer works as a member that is like an older brother to the band, to make things easy to work with, can put his fingers on the songs' arrangements. One fine name is of Martin Birch, the one who took IRON MAIDEN's to what everyone knows, as his fingers can be felt on albums of BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, WHITESNAKE, RAINBOW, WISHBONE ASH in a way that these bands' records with him are considered their finest moments. All of this to say that the North American quartet WEED DEMON needs a very good producer to put them in a good shape, as "Crater Maker" shows.

Their mix of Doom Metal with Stoner Rock and Sludge Metal elements isn't bad at all, and the band shows a very good musical work (besides the grunts on the vocals could use another insight on the tunes). The problem lay in two different points: the songs are extremely long, and can bore many fans; and open an album with two instrumental songs (one of them lasting more than 8 minutes) isn't a good strategy, a thing that a producer wouldn't allow whatever the band wants. Beside these points, the band shows a good potential, even with some extreme moments (that can be heard during "Crater Maker"). It's good, but some polishing would make miracles.

On the sound quality, everything is right, though it's not perfect. For such musical genre, a handmade sound quality fits, what the band looked for, and it sounds clean in a way that everything is understood. But the instrumental tunes used on the drums aren't what their music needs, because they lack of weight. Besides that, everything works in a good way.

To open an album with two instrumental songs is a bad strategy, as said above, but taking all the bad features out, the organic energy and filthy that flows from "Serpent Merchant" (very good guitar riffs, indeed), "Crater Maker" (with its hypnotic and rusty approach, filled with a good work from bass guitar and drums), and "Sporelord" (where some different vocals' tunes presented are welcome) show that they really have musical talent. And "Elder Tree Pyre", a four minute long song, is a proof that they can work with shorter lengths of time that their music will be good.

"Crater Maker" is their second album, and hope that WEED DEMON can mature a bit more until their third release.