Semtex - Pot Secret

One of the most promising new Finnish sludge bands, keeping a slightly more stoner-like groove than other bands from that country which seems to be more into the funeral doom style. Released on CDR and limited to 200 copies but its already been picked up by many downloading sites which has actually helped them a great deal in getting their name and music out to the stoner's around the world. The cover and packaging has gathered some attentions also because of the artwork but also because it is printed on brown wax paper type material. Its also comes with a pretty cool booklet so for a DIY release, it is a good pick-up. Onto the music, well one look at the cover and song titles tells the story. This is a weed-worshiping stoner sludge doom outfit following the riff mastery of bands like Sleep, Bongzilla and Goatsnake but they do have some more mellow psychedelic moments. The disc starts the bong hopping caravan with a track about the dangers of smoking pot or so it seems at first before you realize it is quite the opposite. Just like Bongzilla they use a lot of spoken word samples about weed, even the vocals sound just like the Bongzilla crew. The track is called "Loading Up" and the giant riffing is all there, they don't anything you haven't heard before but the lyrical play on words is extremely well done. The words are delivered like orders to be obeyed rather than suggestions but like most other weed obsessed bands, the subject matter is rather limited. There is only so many ways you can write about weed and its been done to death a million times before it seems. I have nothing against bands using weed as a subject matter but it has really become a cliche and does show a lack of imagination for the most part. The main thing the band has going for them is the big riffs and there is plenty of them on this 30 minute disc, cuts like "Next Hit" and the 10 minute "Slow No Mercy" shows what the band is capable of which is sonic thunderous riff fests. The guitar sound is huge, fuzzy and real thick, the bass is not far behind in terms of fullness. The drum sound is equally big with a snare sound more like a floor tom. Not much more to add really about it, if you are already a fan of the influences I have already mentioned you will get some good bong hitting pleasure from this band but I feel their best work is yet to come. A full length album could be in the works and if they get the production even bigger they could be lethal. This is a pretty good first effort that at times is little bit too predictable but man this is real HEAVY!! 8.5/10

www.myspace.com/semtexposse