WEED WIZARD is a fuzzed out, Stoner Doom Metal band with lethal inclinations. They hail from Sinsheim, Germany. Yeah, I had to look it up too. Interesting factoid: the region around Sinshein has been inhabited since 700,000 BC. And that's all I got other than WEED WIZARD's debut album, "Closed Eyes . . . Open Mind," released way back on February 09, 2020 - about 15 minutes before the world turned upside down - is killer. And I mean that in an un-ironic way. Bad timing aside, this album kicks ass.

Quick band info: They formed in 2013. They released a three-track demo back in 2018 and one four-way split in 2020. Don't ask me what they were doing for those five years between formation and demo. Rehearsing, writing, getting stoned? The standard release of "Closed Eyes . . . Open Mind" has eight tracks, but there is a five-minute bonus track that exists somewhere in the universe that I am determined to locate (I mean other than YouTube).

What can I tell you about this band? There are the usual BLACK SABBATH comparisons, but that won't take you far. Sure, they have a down-tuned, hyper-sonic blues thing going on, but the vocalist leans more to the Death spectrum than you usually get with Doom and almost never out of Stoner. Lyrically, they stray further to Stoner - as in smart, humorous, and packed with enough drug references to be its own episode of "Breaking Bad."

If you've been following the band since 2018, you'll find that all four of their previously released songs are on the new album - somewhat reimagined, of course. The album kicks off with their self-titled track, "The Weed Wizard" which sets the baseline for what's to follow. I say baseline, because the album ramps up track to track until the massive culmination of "Battlesmoke," a ten-minute Doom epic. Other highlights include "Blame It (On Rock 'N' Roll)" the shortest but most rocking tune on the album; "Immortality" which, with "Burning Alters," offers up intonations of evil mysticism to satisfy our more sinister of brethren; "Closed Eyes . . . Open Mind" which serves up some brutal bass action from Flecko; and my absolute favorite track on the album, "They Peed on Your Fxxxin' Rug," which still has me hitting repeat like some coked out lab rat. This track ties everything together in one big unifying bow otherwise known as "The Big Lebowski."

The bonus track, "Macht Kaputt Was Euch Kaputt Macht" (trans: destroy what destroys you) is a TON STEINE SCHERBEN cover. For those unfamiliar with German 70's rock, TON STEINE SCHERBEN (trans: clay stones shards) was a proto-punk band known for their highly charged political slant. But to the point, it's great cover and is relevant to our times.

Altogether, "Closed Eyes . . . Open Mind" is a blast from beginning to end. Which is an odd reaction to a metal album, I know, but between the guttural vocals which scream Death, the drug and Lebowski references that shout Stoner, and the heavy, evil tonality that growl Doom, this album is diverse as it is heavy. I have to admit, I am at most two years and at least seven months late to the game with WEED WIZARD. The good news is, it's never too late to discover first-rate Metal. Go and check these guys out. You won't be disappointed . . . and if you are, close your eyes and open your mind.