Weedeater

North Carolina’s sludge-doom sloggers Weedeater get their filth groove on with their debut album for Southern Lord, the drunkenly titled God Luck and Good Speed. The title track and "Weed Monkey” erupt with their cultivated fuzz — two feedback-drenched train wrecks of Acid King and old Melvins. And what sounds faithfully like Billy Anderson’s production is actually handled by renowned noisenik Steve Albini. The slower "For Evan’s Sake” is more akin to down tuned Sleep, and Shep’s guitar solo defines their Southern heritage even more so than their crusty, Six Feet Under-ish cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s "Gimme Back My Bullets.” The acoustic eccentricity "Alone” sits on the front porch like a Neil Young/Tom Waits tune, with banjo and Dave "Dixie” Collins’s sub-bass vocal utterances. "$20 Peanut” and "Wizard Fight” sling the Hawg Jaw muck with buzzing bass, while "Dirt Merchant” taps into classic Electric Wizard for a swingin’ ode to mindlessness. As the album fades out with a piano loop, Weedeater have succeeded in bestowing welcomed variety in their well-weathered doom.