Metal Underground.com

With "Weed From The Devil's Garden," Pot has created some smoking-hot stoner metal. They've loaded up the bong with superb songwriting, splendid solos and grooves galore, for a musical experience that will leave listeners in a state of euphoria, despite some lyrical silliness.

With a name like Pot, it's hardly surprising that the band apparently bonded over what it calls "a mutual love of music and weed." But instead of going all Black Crowes mellow, these guys decided to crank things up a notch.

"Lose Control," the EP's opener has heavy, distorted guitars from Jack Mouat that, with their pinch harmonic squeals, can't help but remind one of ZZ Top or Zakk Wylde in his Pride and Glory days. Mouat's solo is superb, and bassist Sean Brazil and drummer Sam Lodge make things swing splendidly. Ash Clatworthy's vocals are decent, even if a spoken-word breakdown fails to impress, and the lyrics aren't exactly the stuff of legend.

"Children That Time Forgot" has a slower groove, reminiscent of early Sabbath and Soundgarden, but the squealing harmonics get to be a bit much. The band shows off a bit here, with a slower, less distorted middle section, which then transitions into a fast thrashy section before resuming the inital groove.

Finally, there's "Smoke The Reefer," a fun tune that begins with a familiar bubbling noise, before launching into a groovy guitar assault that's more than a little Pantera-inspired. I guarantee that the catchy chorus that tells you to "smoke the reefer, it'll make things better" will be in your head for weeks.

Though I found the disc to be a lot of fun, I have to admit that there's not a lot of there there when it comes to Clatsworthy's lyrics. The message here is pretty much that the world sucks, and that getting high is fun.

Pot makes AC/DC seem like Shakespeare, and probably lowered my IQ a few points ... but I listened to this EP five times in a row anyway. "Weed From The Devil's Garden" is just that much fun.