Trancing out to doom is an activity I fully support, though I can’t quite reach the heights many fans of the sub-genre attain. Nor for any moral reason. We know what I’m talking about, right? Anyway, while I do understand that’s often the ideal state of musical digestion, I tend to come at my experiences more grounded. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.

A band the ilk of Enhailer might find my method all wrong. After all, their new 18-minute, single-track EP “Dumb Enough to Care” surely must coat your brain far better if you were up in the clouds, surrounded by a comfort blanket of smoke or vapors, with your mind melting with the sounds. That said, I don’t partake, and yet I still found a shitload to like on this new effort, a late-year stoner doom boulder that might help you get super loose over the holidays. The Akron-based band formed four years ago, initially as an instrumental project, releasing their demo “In Waves” in 2015, then their first full-length “Grisaille” a year later. The band started with a lineup of guitarist Mike Shea, bassist Michael Gilpatrick, and drummer Chadd Bevelin (also of Mockingbird), and later they added guitarist/vocalist Matt Snyder’s, whose howls and growls add a new element to the group’s sound. I saw these guys at this year’s inaugural Descendants of Crom festival, and they did a nice job converting some new people to their sound, including me.

The title track begins on the wings of adventurous space rock before it gets sludgy and gritty, pounding you with psyched weirdness. A clip from “Trailer Park Boys” adds to that strangeness before barked vocals rupture, and the band gallops into high gear. The song leaves blisters, with the low-end mauling and cosmic sirens entering the scene and drubbing your senses. Pretty sure I hear some deep bong hits bubbling as the track heads into buzzing intensity, with the pace picking up and unleashing some glorious ’90s-style rock in the vein of Smashing Pumpkins. That elevates the volume and fire before we’re back into the stars, with guitars soaring, Snyder crushing us with shrieks, and the melodies peaking. For the final stretch, the band turns vicious, massive wails strike, and the music scrapes at your psyche, letting you gaze into the depths of the universe forever.

Enhailer’s vision for doom is varied and enthralling, the type of thing you don’t have to be chemically enhanced to understand. Though it may elevate your level of understanding. “Dumb Enough to Care” is a strong trip, one that takes you into tons of different corners of doom, that’s it’s practically a tour of the dark islands. This is a step into the band’s future that, from this effort, looks to be smoke-filled and enough to keep you hammered for days on end.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Enhailer/

To buy the album, go here: http://www.blackseedrecords.com/store.php

For more on the label, go here: http://www.blackseedrecords.com/