HIGH REEPER just keep on reaching higher and higher places with their sound. Their songs have a fiery, dauntless spirit to them, with singer Zach Thomas belting out one soulful, prophetic line after another with grit and conviction.

Take their latest single “Cold World.” Guitars mark out a wicked groove, like a snake slithering across your path and you wonder if it just might bite. Drums join with strong intonation and deep resolve. Bass keeps the song thumping along. Vocals gleam with metallic sheen. What a fitting anthem for winter.

High Reeper remark:

When we were making ‘Doom Sessions Vol. 5’ we were unable to include all the tracks that we recorded on the actual release. We are hard at work on a new record and thought we would share “Cold World” with you and continue with our full-on heavy metal assault.

You can check out our review of Doom Sessions Vol. 5 right here and get the album via Heavy Psych Sounds. The new single drops Friday.

Give Ear…

SOME BUZZ

Formed in 2016, HIGH REEPER is made up of Zach Thomas, Tyler Yoder, Justin Di Pinto, Pat Daly and Shane Trimble. Originally started as a studio band, it rapidly became apparent that these songs were meant to be heard live and loud. The band made their debut in the Philly/Delaware stoner rock scene in early 2017 with success, followed up by the recording of their self-titled debut in May.

With a sound deeply rooted in modern stoner rock while giving a nod to early days Sabbath, their self-titled debut was driven by pounding rhythms, thick guitars and soaring, screeching vocals. For their sophomore record, the addition of Di Pinto on drums helped focus in an even more powerful direction.

After their sophomore album release and a successful 2018 European tour that included Desertfest Berlin, High Reeper hit Europe once again in 2019, visiting ten countries as well as an appearance at Desertfest London. The band has been working on new material since then, with a new album yet to be announced on HPS Records.

The simple genius of the Doom Sessions series cannot be overstated. It’s as if Heavy Psych Sounds had brought together my favorite Saturday morning cartoon characters for an epic team up, only of course in the musical realm. We’re not up to five volumes of these collaborations (and counting). Each has a unique character and pairs bands that seem to complement (or contrast) each other’s sound quite effectively.

For ‘Doom Sessions Vol. 5’ (2021) we have Delaware Valley band HIGH REEPER paired with the Northwest’s HIPPIE DEATH CULT – both of which have been together for a comporable number of years, the former founded in 2016, the latter in 2017.

The vibrant proto-doom sound of High Reeper is the first up to bat with “Vermillion Iron,” which begins with these stately, crushing riffs, and colliding chords. Though I don’t have the lyrics handy, it is obviously bearing witness to the sheer might and power of this ancient ore and its ability to be forged into powerful weapons of war. For as “metal” as metal music is, I don’t know of many songs off hand that actually extol the virtues of it in actuality, making this song twice as cool. The significance of vermillion iron, of course, would be its royal – even religious – character to ancient civilizations.

The twin fantasy “Winter King/Devil’s Grip” was one of the first singles to emerge from this collab and we played it not too many weeks ago on The Doomed & Stoned Show. The soaring vocals of Zach Thomas are a distinct highlight, which play so well with Pat Daly’s riffmaking. There’s a whole mythology to be explored here, so listen closely to its words.

We round out Side A with the pensive, but equally engaging song, “Withering Decay.” It’s slow-building, balladic character may bestow upon it an enduring quality that will lead future bands to cover it. Certainly, I can see it capstoning many a fan’s playlist in years to come. Don’t miss the Sabbathian switcharoo in the second-half, with its churning doom character.

Now we come to my Portland homies Hippie Death Cult, who have two longer songs to occupy the second half. “Fill The Fires” kicks off Side B with what sounds like an Alan Watts quotation, though I could be off in my vocal identification. The song seems to use fire as a metaphor for desire, which is the element that brings so many things in life together. Tribal-esque beats open the song with spacey guitars swirling in the night sky. Certainly more ethereal and mysterious than its companion, it is nonetheless a sensational experience in its own right: at times mysterious, wondrous, and psychedelic, at others frenetic, moving, and brave.

Side B concludes with the groovy “Towards Infinity,” opening as if it were in a dimly lit, sparsely occupied tavern somewhere on a weekday night in Southern Cali. For some reasons, I have flashbacks (good ones) of the second season of True Detective (Season 2, if you must ask) as I listen to this. Then again, the song’s mood speaks quite differently to me than its lyrical character, which reaches toward a concept that is difficult for any mind to grasp – the neverending and eternal. Both Ben Jackson’s distinctive vocalization and the virtuosic and imaginative guitar playing of Eddie Brnabic play gracefully upon this theme until the song suddenly extinguishes.

Look for this powerful listening experience to release May 14th via Heavy Psych Sounds on digital, compact disc, and a brilliant array of vinyl formats (pre-order here), with the full stream available to Doomed & Stoned readers right here, right now a day before!

Give ear…

Some Buzz

Formed in 2016, HIGH REEPER is made up of Zach Thomas, Justin Di Pinto, Pat Daly and Shane Trimble. Originally started as a studio band, it rapidly became apparent that these songs were meant to be heard live and loud. The band made their debut in the Philly/Delaware stoner rock scene in early 2017 with success, followed up by the recording of their self-titled debut in May.

With a sound deeply rooted in modern stoner rock while giving a nod to early days Sabbath, their self-titled debut was driven by pounding rhythms, thick guitars and soaring, screeching vocals. For their sophomore record, the addition of Di Pinto on drums helped focus in an even more powerful direction.

After their sophomore album release and a successful 2018 European tour that included Desertfest Berlin, High Reeper hit Europe once again in 2019, visiting ten countries as well as an appearance at Desertfest London. The band has been working on new material since then, with a new album yet to be announced on Heavy Psych Sounds Records.

High Reeper is:

• Zach Thomas — Vocals
• Pat Daly — Guitars
• Shane Trimble — Bass
• Justin Di Pinto — Drums

HIPPIE DEATH CULT has proven to be one of the more exciting hard rock bands to surface in recent years. Described as a band who “perfectly fuses classic rock sounds with a more modern fuzzy doom sensibility” by Metal Injection and “definitely ones to watch” by Classic Rock Magazine, the Portland, Oregon quartet only began writing and performing in early 2018, while the roots of the band go much deeper.

A stream of musical consciousness swept over guitarist Eddie Brnabic inspiring him to create the band, but it would take a few lineup attempts and a little luck to bring the right members together. With a solid lineup of Laura Phillips, Ryan Moore and Ben Jackson in place, they set out with fierce dedication to rehearse, record and perform a string of successful live shows, securing a deal with Cursed Tongue Records, who released their politically and ecologically-driven debut album '111’ in 2019.

In 2020, Hippie Death Cult signed a worldwide record deal with Heavy Psych Sounds Records to release their sophomore full-length in the spring of 2021.

Hippie Death Cult is:

• Ryan Moore — Drums
• Eddie Brnabic — Guitar
• Laura Phillips - Bass
• Ben Jackson — Vocals/Keys

Recently, Melissa traded words with Delaware’s newest sensation, Wasted Theory.  Though the band has been together since 2012, the bluesy, up-tempo stoner-southern rock foursome has recently started to gain international attention with their new full-length Death And Taxes (released May 30th, 2014). Wasted Theory is:

• Jonathan Charles
• Brendan Burns
• Larry Jackson, Jr.
• Dave McMahon

I would describe Wasted Theory as a combination of Alabama Thunderpussy, Thin Lizzy and “Wiseblood” Corrosion of Conformity. Who else do you credit as a main influence?

Brendan: I can definitely understand the C.O.C. references, I suppose for the “southern-esque” vibe in our music, although I think a lot of that comes from the old school 70’s stuff we all dig. When you grow up on classic rock radio naturally that stuff is gonna sink in somewhere.

Dave: As a guitar player I feel it’s all about style and soul, so guys like Billy Gibbons and Brian May,for example. We’ve all performed in other styles and genres which come together to be sort of internally influenced. Makes for a tree of options branching out, rather than a single road.

Larry: My influences are so wide spread, but I’ll definitely pick a few. I love the old blues:  Muddy, Led Belly, Howling Wolf, etc. Throw some Black Country Communion and Planet of Zeus in there and we have us a playlist. 

You all seem like cool dudes that don’t take things too serious and that comes across in your music. It’s just so fun to listen to. What’s your songwriting process like?

Dave: It’s sort of like one of those educational animations about how the solar system was formed, they just seem to coalesce together. Sometimes you feel like writing the ‘bangers,’ other days we’re on another planet jamming for 20 minutes on some spacey craziness.

Brendan: It’s rock n’ roll, it’s supposed to just be a big ol’ fun and dangerous party. When we sit down to work on new tunes, first thing we do is check the fridge to see if there’s any beer left. Then we usually just stare at each other for about 20 minutes before somebody actually has something worth jamming on. It’s a very complicated process, as you can tell. At the end of the day, we can usually all agree on 2 or 3 decent riffs… and boom, new song!

Larry: Sometimes we come in to rehearsal and plan on working on the set for upcoming shows, but that never really happens. We all love writing and jamming so much that by the third beer we end up with the skeleton to a new song, without even planning it.

So, you guys are from Delaware. What’s the music scene like there? Do you see a lot of familiar faces at your shows?

Brendan: Delaware is a very tricky place. We typically make it a point to only play home a few times a year, tops. We certainly see a good amount of familiar faces when we’re on the road. We like to travel, so we try to stay out as much as our family and work schedules will allow. We are very much a “band’s band,” so we enjoy playing in front of our friends’ bands, as well. Musicians make the best audiences, in my opinion.

Dave: Delaware used to have an alright stoner scene, but its dead and buried. Our recent tour showed us that hard work pays off, we had fans drive from all over to see us—that personally blew me away. I felt like “I’m just some jack-off from Delaware, and you drove all that way to come see us play?” But it’s those people that keep you going.

Jay: We do tend to see a lot of familiar faces on the road. In fact, Rev. Jim from Sixty Watt Shaman came out to show support in West Virginia. Very cool to see familiar faces when we are out. 

What was it like playing at Days Of The Doomed Festival IV? Did you get to see a lot of the other bands? Who impressed you the most?

Jay: I was thoroughly impressed by Las Cruces and Blackfinger.

Brendan: Man, Days Of The Doomed Festival was by far a huge step forward for us. First off, the event itself was top notch. Mercyful Mike Smith is a true professional and a joy to work with. Both he and his staff know how to take care of their bands. We played Friday night, so we only got the chance to check out the other Friday night bands, but definitely Bible of the Devil, Blackfinger and Las Cruces were on point that night.

I see you guys also played the Moving The Earth Festival in Baltimore, back in March. What’s it like playing festivals, compared to shows?

Brendan: Festivals nowadays seem to be the way to go for bands like us. It’s a great opportunity to play your shit in front of dozens of people that would usually never get the chance to see you in a smaller setting. We’ve been very fortunate to perform at both years of Moving The Earth Festival. Our good friend Chuck from Foghound puts on a top notch event. We got an amazing response from this year’s festival.

Jay: Festivals are always great because you’re able to meet up with bands from all over, many of whom you don’t often get the chance to link up with throughout the year. 

You guys have shows through mid-August. What’s the plan after that?

Brendan: The plan is to start wrapping up the live shows in September/October, then pretty much around November we go our separate ways for the Holidays, maybe an occasional jam here and there so we don’t forget how to play our instruments, then after the new year we’re gonna get started on writing new stuff for the next record.

I purchased your new album Death And Taxes and it’s been on constant rotation. How is this different than your previous releases?

Brendan: Well the biggest difference is we added a new guitarist, so naturally that added a new perspective on things. It really helped us do what we’ve been struggling with from the beginning, which was to simplify things. Our earlier stuff was more complex than it really needed to be, but with adding Dave he brought in the ability to just take a step back and enjoy the simplicity of the riffs, which I think suits us much better.

Dave: The best part about having a back catalogue is being able to look at the evolution of the band. There’s a methodical part to writing and assembling these songs, but at the same time its pure feeling. I think we just naturally felt the groove and soul that came with the Death and Taxes material.

This record is clearly a timeless album for stoner metal and southern blues fans alike. It’s full of catchy, whiskey-soaked riffs and your Lemmy-like vocals make it that much more memorable. Are you worried it’ll be difficult to create something even better? 


Larry: Well, I do drink a lot of whiskey, so I think the riffs are here to stay, haha.

Brendan: We aren’t a band that tries to reinvent the wheel, and as our previous material has demonstrated we are naturally evolving with each new record. We’ve been extremely humbled by the outpouring of love people have been showing this album, it’s definitely gonna be hard to top it, but we’ll just keep on keepin’ on.

Do you have a favorite track from Death And Taxes?

Dave: I dig the album in its entirety, although sometimes I dig the stuff we don’t really ever play like “Boogie on Pony Boy” and “Hexes.”

Jay: “Dead is Dead” and “Black Widow Liquor Run.“

Brendan: My personal favorites are “Dead is Dead” and “Tire Iron.”

Any last words to your fans?

Brendan: You guys rule, and we’re sorry if we suck live.

Jay: Thank you all for all the support you have shown us since the beginning. Catch ya out on the road!

Dave:  I thank everyone that digs this stuff.  Again, it’s pointless without fans, which I honestly consider friends. If they dig it I’d be happy to have drinks with them any time!