Keef Mountain, thanks to its label, keeps getting higher

Last October, record label the Company unleashed the debut full-length from Kansas City stoner-doom duo Keef Mountain. The self-titled recording could be had digitally or on CD, but the vinyl edition only just arrived. And those who waited were rewarded: If the band’s name weren’t tipoff enough about the slow, sludgy riffage within, the record’s packaging seals the impression; the sold-out “bong smoke” edition features a milky look, and the “super dank” iteration comes in translucent green, with a purple haze.

The format blitz was good strategy, according to the Company’s Joshua Wilkinson.

“I want to keep the aspect of physical media alive — the feeling of holding your music in your hand and examining the artwork and reading the liner notes,” he says. “While vinyl is the cooler of the two mediums, not everyone has a turntable or even the desire to pay the money for vinyl, so we offer various platforms for our releases. I didn’t want to limit our clientele to the vinyl collectors only. I wanted our releases to be available on a bigger scale to a broader audience.”

Regardless of how you listen to the Keef Mountain album, though, the appeal of the music is apparent. And Wilkinson, appropriately, is a fan.

“They write these doom songs, with these epic riffs and massive tone,” is how he describes Keef Mountain’s music. “At the same time, they [the songs] are fast and have an untapped power to them. Dillon’s highly talented drumming brings a ferocity to Jake’s tone and demanding bellow — you can’t help but bang your head to it.”

Dillon and Jake are drummer Dillon Bendetti and singer-guitarist Jake Hayde — two musicians who couldn’t be more excited to have an album in the world. Their only previous release was a 2012 demo tape, and the band’s progress in the studio since then is pronounced. If you know Keef Mountain only from that demo, prepare to have your hair blown back in a big way — especially when you put on “Higher Realms,” a riff-heavy number with guitar leads evocative of Thin Lizzy in its heyday. The new disc was recorded by Alex Tunks in the basement of Crossroads bar the Belfry — Tunks used a room mic to capture the natural sound of the cavernous room — and benefits from a mastering job by Tony Reed, of the Washington state band Mos Generator.

“I like to think we’ve solidified our sound much better since the demo,” Hayde says. “My gear has grown a lot since then, which in turn has made us sound a lot fuller.”

“I guess the only thing that’s changed has been our songwriting,” Bendetti says. “We’ve been working on new material that doesn’t fit the OG Keef mold. We started to bring heavier influences to the table that aren’t necessarily doom or anything like that. We’re just looking to play that good good grooving type stuff, ya dig?”

Well, sure, I dig. More important, the Company digs. Wilkinson sees Keef Mountain’s appeal expanding beyond the realm of Kansas City and the surrounding towns.

“To be honest, it’s already carved quite a mark in the underground stoner-doom community for sure,” Wilkinson says, going on to list countries around the world where the album has arrived: France, Sweden, Germany, Tokyo, Australia, Canada. “We’ve actually already sold out the first pressing and are working on getting a second one done later this year because their buzz is only getting bigger.”

“Josh is great at getting the word out, as well as lighting a fire under us to get shit moving,” Bendetti says. “I really don’t think things would be the same if we put the record out ourselves.”

Hayde agrees: “Josh had asked me when we were going to release something, and I said, ‘Maybe one day. We don’t really have time or money for that. And then he said, ‘What if I do it?’ We were both very down. Josh releasing this record has done so much for us. It’s gotten us attention from literally all over the world with doom and vinyl lovers.”

Bendetti and Hayde want Keef Mountain to hit the road, but any tour is likely to be small; both have jobs.

“However, I definitely see some out-of-town weekend excursions in the future with some of the local homies,” Bendetti says.

“We went on a small one when we did the demo,” Hayde says, “and it was the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Keef Mountain

With Snowchild and Youngblood Supercult

10:30 p.m. Saturday, February 4, at the Replay Lounge