August 17, 2020  ·  Episode 52  ·  The one that started it all

Roll another bowl, prepare your favorite relaxer, crank up the lava lamps and black lights. Vol. 1 covers the origin story — Blue Cheer (Pre-Sabbath Prior to Sabbath, 1968), Black Sabbath (Sweet Leaf, Fairies Wear Boots, Planet Caravan — "You can't have Stoner Metal without THIS"), Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Sleep (Holy Mountain / Dopesmoker — 63 minutes, one track, rejected by their label, now a masterpiece), High on Fire ("a heavier Motörhead"), Kyuss (Blues for the Red Sun / Welcome to Sky Valley — "Suites, like the first Sabbath album"), QOTSA (Feel Good Hit of the Summer — #nowitsaparty), Monster Magnet (Tractor — #readthoselyrics — FYI: there IS an uncensored version of Space Lord), Electric Wizard (Funeralopolis — #hearthecough), DOWN (Bury Me in Smoke — live at Donnington), The Sword (Winters Wolves — ZZ Sabbath — #cantbeloudenough), Stoned Jesus, Orange Goblin, YOB, Solace, Red Fang. Opening message from Marc Potterson. "Is Sleep the Modern Day Black Sabbath?" #bigdaddysbbqpit for your munchie needs.

2020  ·  Deeper into the Stonerverse

Volume 2 expands the Stonerverse considerably — more bands, more subgenres, more tangentionalality. The Melvins make their Metal Nerdery stoner debut. More Kyuss deep cuts. The ongoing debate between stoner, doom, and sludge. "We had planned to only do a 4-volume series on Stoner & Doom Metal." Famous last words. The rabbit hole continues downward. Wood paneling and shag carpeting as far as the eye can see. More Marc Potterson energy. #bbqsativarub

2021  ·  The Stonerverse keeps expanding

Volume 3 — at which point the series had clearly taken on a life of its own. More fuzzy riffs, more lava lamps, more trimmed drug beards. The stoner metal universe keeps revealing new corners. Bands covered include deeper cuts from the desert rock and doom metal scenes. Christopher Cross does NOT drink on his boat. The shag carpeting strain from the 70s. The incense is lit. The Drug Beard is trimmed to resemble a well-groomed wizard. JOIN US.

2021  ·  Diet White Claws and homegrown relaxers

Volume 4 — the one that was supposed to be the last one. It was not the last one. "Get ready to get squinty as we chug some diet White Claws and make sure to keep that bowl of homegrown relaxers blazing." The Stonerverse keeps revealing new dimensions. Bands from the sludge, doom, and desert rock corners of the universe that haven't been covered yet. The debate between stoner and doom continues. The rule remains: IF drug references, THEN stoner metal. IF not, THEN doom metal. Volume 5 was already inevitable.

February 9, 2023  ·  "Did we welcome everybody, right?" — #facepalmASMR

"We DID welcome everybody, right?" / #facepalmASMR #doyounotremember — the classic Metal Nerdery pre-show energy is firmly in effect by Volume 5. The voicemail segment returns. More bands from across the stoner/doom/sludge spectrum — including acts from the international Stonerverse beyond the US and UK. "There is ALWAYS some kind of stony, doomy, glorious metal goodness oozing out of the wood paneled, shag carpeted, smoke filled, tri-county Stonerverse." Volume 5 proves it definitively. The rabbit hole has no bottom.

April 20, 2023  ·  4/20  ·  The most appropriately timed episode ever

Volume 6 — the 4/20 Super Special. There is no more appropriate date to release a Stoner Metal episode than April 20th and Metal Nerdery delivers on the occasion with full ceremony and maximum relaxer energy. "Vol. VI was our 4/20 Super special" — confirmed by Volume 7. The lava lamps are at full brightness. The black lights are on. The shag carpeting is vacuumed. The incense is burning. The bands are heavy, fuzzy, and stony. Everything is as it should be. Happy 4/20 from the Metal Nerdery Bunkerpoon Metal Center for Excellence. #suicidepanelingshagcarpeting

October 3, 2024  ·  "It's rainy outside, it's gloomy, and it's doomy…"

The most doom-focused volume yet — Metal Nerdery attempts to definitively answer: what IS doom metal vs stoner metal? "Sometimes, just like with identical twins, identifying the differences can be difficult." The rule still applies: IF drug references, THEN stoner metal. IF not, THEN doom metal. Bands played: Type O Negative — Red Water ("This album makes me wanna bang goth chicks…") / Winter — Into Darkness (#notontheboat — "That's as doomy as doom gets…") / Cathedral — Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) ("It's like a heavier WASP in a way…") / Paradise Lost — Enchantment ("It's like a happier Type O…") / Windhand — Orchard ("like Acid Mammoth…it's bolth…") / Candlemass — Solitude ("That's the heaviest acoustic guitar I've ever heard…") / Pallbearer — I Saw the End ("It's like Maiden Doom…Doom Maid") / Also: "Angry Matt" podcast forthcoming. Sandwich Nerdery debuts. Stoner Metal Vol. 7: The Search For Doom concludes with a muffalotta grievance.

December 26, 2019  ·  Released September 19, 1995 — Jimmy Bower's birthday

"Southern Fried Skynyrd Sabbath with a side of gravy." Phil Anselmo, Pepper Keenan, Kirk Windstein, Todd Strange, and Jimmy Bower — the greatest metal supergroup ever assembled — playing New Orleans sludge/doom at its most monolithic. "PostSkynyrdFriedSabbathCore — WAY more accurate than sludge metal." Charted at #57 on Billboard. Temptation's Wings takes its name from a line in Saint Vitus' "Ice Monkey." Stone the Crow was the only single to crack the top 40. Bury Me in Smoke closes every DOWN show ever. "If you do not own NOLA, you need to make a change in your life." Lifer was later dedicated to Dimebag Darrell R.I.P. Jimmy Bower: the Godfather of Southern Metal. The true HellHounds. Suicide Paneling Part 2. Riff Casserole Sludge Metal #swampmetal. Do you smell… something?

December 24, 2020  ·  Released March 26, 2002  ·  Christmas Eve Special

"Something about the vibe sounds like it was recorded by Roger Bain in some haunted, abandoned church in an alternate dimension during the early 1970's and then teleported back to 2002." Recorded at Nodferatu's Lair (Phil's place in Louisiana). "Did DOWN time travel back to the 70's to record DOWN II?" Lysergik Funeral Procession (#killeropener). The Man That Follows Hell. Stained Glass Cross — organ on a DOWN album. Ghosts Along the Mississippi. Doobinterlude. New Orleans is a Dying Whore (#crunchyballriffs). The Seed. Landing on the Mountains of Meggido. "THE POWER OF THE RIFF COMPELLS ME!!!" Down II is definitely a "relaxer" album. Check out also En Minor — tangentionally related. Skynyrd Fried Sabbath Crunch Casserole with Riff Gravy. MERRY CHRIST MASS.

May 2, 2024  ·  4/20 episode energy, Blake's Hard Cider Cherry Limeade

"Before OM and High on Fire, there was the marijuana infused, Sabbath worshipping, stoner metal power trio hailing from San Jose, California known as SLEEP." "You say the name and you hear the sound of bongs and you can smell weed." "They are one of the few bands in history to have sonically recreated what being supernaturally high actually SOUNDS like." Covers all four albums: Volume One (1991) — Stillborn, The Wall of Yawn, Numb ("That sounds like old school Sabbath…") / Holy Mountain (1992) — Dragonaut (#killeropener — "You can hit play and immediately smell weed"), The Druid, Snowblind / Dopesmoker (1999) — "If you wanna know what weed sounds like…" #usethoseheadphonesASMR / The Sciences (2018) — Marijuanaut's Theme, Giza Butler. "Shot some steroids full of weed into it." #wesaveballs. It smells like 1976 in there. All the shag carpet. All the wood paneling.

August 4, 2022  ·  "The godfathers of Desert Stoner Metal"

"Before QOTSA, Them Crooked Vultures, or Eagles of Death Metal, there were the godfathers of Desert Stoner Metal, KYUSS." Formed 1987 in Palm Desert, CA — disbanded 1995. Members went on to QOTSA, Them Crooked Vultures, Fu Manchu, Slo Burn, Eagles of Death Metal, and more. Covers all four albums: Wretch (1991) — Hwy 74, Son of a Bitch, Black Widow (#desertfuzzyness with dual Iommi style solos) / Blues for the Red Sun (1992) — Green Machine (#usethoseheadphones #doomyandstonyASMR), Molten Universe (#cantbeloudenough), YEAH (#killercloser) / Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) — Whitewater (#desertfungi — NOTE: originally thought it was Gardenia), 100* (#vertical) / …And the Circus Leaves Town (1995) — Hurricane (#killeropener), One Inch Man, El Rodeo (#notonthealbum), Tangy Zizzle. Is it pronounced Kyuss? Or Kyuss? "It's got all the things in the stuff and the stuff in the things." #katzenjammer. Put on your rock and roll pants.

June 3, 2021  ·  "ZZ Sabbath"  ·  Austin TX  ·  HAIL THE SWORD

"THE SWORD is truly a blessing. Blending the crushing heaviness of doom metal with the cosmic feel of classic 70s prog-rock, THE Sword has carved out their own place in the pantheon of modern metal." Formed Austin TX 2003. Covers the full catalog: Age of Winters (2006) — Barael's Bade (#CBLE #bongasaurus), Winter's Wolves (#thatssosabbath) / Gods of the Earth (2008) — The Frost-Giant's Daughter, Lords (the rule of instrumentals and crickets) / Warp Riders (2010) — Tres Brujas (Three Witches, NOT 3 beers #sacredsmoke) / Apocryphon (2012) — Cloak of Feathers (#fuckyeah #bolth), Veil of Isis (#verysabbath #mysticalsabbath) / High Country (2015) — Mist and Shadow (#dialin1971), Turned to Dust, The Bees of Spring (#stevemillerish) / Used Future (2018) — Deadly Nightshade, The Wild Sky. "Orange is the new fuzz." Set your relaxer levels to wormhole. #titfreestonermetalzeppelincore. They were coming to town with Primus and Wolfmother. HAIL THE SWORD.