Doomed Nation - Episode 1/2
Directed by Tom Denney
Starring Sourvein, Burial at Sea, Meatjack, Converge, Crowbar, Cum Dumpster, Rwake
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Tits-heavy gig poster artist and hardcore stoner rock dude Tom Denney has combined his twin obsessions (I just told ya what they are) into one rolling, nerve wrecking, cathode ray freakout. “Doomed Nation” is his videozine series, capturing the souls and images of various stoner-crust and death-sludge brawlers with his TV eye and mincing them into a garish, unsettling, and altogether righteous display of sound and vision that is sure to burst a few capillaries on the terminally bloodshot eyeballs of the stoner nation. I have witnessed my fair share of live desert wandering groove hustlers, and I gotta say, the experience can be pretty fuckin’ underwhelming. Let’s face it, stoner rock cats are never dressed for the dance, and all that smoke has a tendency to dull the compulsion to truly and literally tear the roof of the joint, leaving you with only the syrup riffs and feedback steam to get by on. And hell, you can get that at home, with yr headphones on, and yr pants off. So, what to do? How you gonna make a whole buncha hairy, sweaty, greasy drug addicts with guitars look sumptuous enough to keep you glued to yr TV screen? Well, how about tossing in copious amounts of war, riots, and otherwise weird found footage? How about when you have the fuckers in your sights, you swing the camera around like a monkey flying on spiked bananas? How about you toss the whole mess into a stuttering video effects editor, press all the most obscure buttons, and see what happens? Well, then you’d have a real cool time on yr hands. Then, the goddamn TV might start watching YOU, instead. Then, dope fiends, you’d have Doomed Nation.

I’m not sure how far into the series Denney has gotten, or how far he’s going, but I do know there’s at least one of these on the market, and it’s a good ‘un. Noisy as a whole room of screaming, hysterical manic depressives on a meds strike, but good. The featured band on this particular episode is Texan doomslayers Sourvein, and besides a handful of live performances (some manipulated, some not), Vein honcho Troy gets interview by an on-camera Tom in a few clips. There’s another band playing while they’re conducting said interview, and they’re attempting this doubly impossible mission in front of an open window, compelling the freaks at the BBQ outside to snap your concentration in half like a twig, but if you dig this gang of multi-gendered headache makers, I reckon it’s a treat anyway. Other bands on deck include the stoner-crust jackhammer party that is Burried at Sea and Meatjack, the creepy, pseudo-industrial noisebomb of Converge, and workhorse heavies Crowbar, who, in normal circumstances, could pretty accurately be pegged as two-ton hell sludge, but practically sound like a radio friendly melodi-metal band in this crazy company. Upstanding chaps Cum Dumpster and deadneck acid eaters Rwake also pop in.

Obviously, you really have to dig bands from the extreme side of the stoner-sludge axis to really get down with the Doomed Nation, but even the casual substance abuser can see that Denney’s got an artful eye for this stuff, and even if there’s smoke and some kinda black goo dripping from my ears thanks to the battering they’ve just taken, I was still entertained and enthralled by all the wild imagery. I mean, right on. One thing, tho - I think this video might contain subliminal messages, since immediately after watching it, I went over to my next door neighbor’s house and drowned her in the bathtub. But hey, that’s just the kinda risk you’ve gotta take for rock and roll, ya know?

Next episode promises an intimate look at Weedeater, which means only one thing: blood, and lots of it. Hell yeah.
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