North Carolina’s been a regular source for stoner rock, doom, and everything in between over the past few decades, so it makes sense that a band like Hempire would cover a lot of the in between on their debut The Weight. This debut follows their 2022 demo High Country Hash Thrash and features a lot of the same tracks but tweaks them in meaningful ways alongside a more polished and heavy hitting production. While early on it might seem like this is your standard doom or stoner/desert rock affair, there’s a lot more at work beneath the surface that will keep listeners returning to this album regularly.
“Nugrunner” kicks things off on the faster side, as the instrumentals come in with a toe-thumping groove that brings a lot of different 90s desert/stoner rock bands to mind while still having some nuances of its own. Personally, this opener felt to me like the intersection of Kyuss and Monster Magnet with some of doom’s grittiness in there, and that’s the type of sound that has instant appeal. But as you make your way through The Weight, it becomes clear that there’s a lot more variety and styles at play. Sometimes this comes in the form of some crossover era Corrosion of Conformity rippers like “The Grind” which does eventually settle into a denser groove, but there are also longer tracks like “Without the Darkness” which sprawl outwards and go full-on psychedelic rock for a few minutes. “Without the Darkness” in particular is an interesting one, as around the halfway point the rhythms get much more diverse and the melodies are much hazier and introspective. It’s a very different vibe than I got from some of the songs that preceded it but fits well within the whole album. Transitions like this showcase just how well Hempire can do the softer, subdued side of things alongside the weightier, swagger filled grooves, and this does a lot to give the material longevity. The Weight is consistent from beginning to end, with my only minor criticism being that some of the shorter songs like “Gravedigger” have some killer southern tinged grooves that seem to end too quickly. But considering how many albums I find to have the opposite issue where the songs are overstretched, this is a good problem to have.
There may be some mellower elements woven into the instrumentation, but the vocals keep things rooted on the grittier end of the spectrum. Vocalist Joey Shaw has one of those pitches that’s somewhere between singing and yelling, giving things a bit more of an aggressive slant than some of the others in the genre. Stylistically there’s a bit of Pantera and Pepper era Corrosion of Conformity, but the rougher edge also recalls some doom and even punk depending on the verse. The cleaner moments on “Wasn’t Born Yesterday” in particular give off a similar Deliverance era Corrosion of Conformity vibe, though it’s important to note that Shaw hasn’t made this approach his entire identity. The rougher edges tie into the band’s metal and punk sides, and while the vocals aren’t quite as diverse as the instrumentals there’s still plenty of small differences to give each song a different feel.
At first glance Hempire might seem like your average doom or stoner rock band, but the way they sling together all these different sub-genres provides more depth than one might expect. There’s plenty here to pull in the Corrosion of Conformity and Monster Magnet crowds, as you’ll hear similar high-energy grooves and crunchier tonality, but dips into punk, heavy psych, and everything in between makes this album stand out a lot more for me. The Weight will get plenty of spins from me as the year continues on, and I could easily see Hempire being a band that could fit in the rosters of labels such as Ripple or Small Stone by the time they’re ready for a sophomore outing.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg