Digital review: Crowbar – Equilibrium

Digital Review: Crowbar – Equilibrium
eOne Music
All Access Rating: A-

Crowbar - Equilibrium 2015

Anybody who can turn Gary Wright's mid-'70s starry-eyed, soft-rock smash "Dreamweaver" into an epic, sludge-metal space odyssey – where even the hard of hearing can make out Kirk Windstein's hoary, all-encompassing screams as clear as day – deserves sainthood.

So does Equilibrium, the sixth album from Crowbar, and the last with original bassist Todd Strange. A game-changer for the NOLA heavyweights originally released 15 years ago, the jaw-dropping Equilibrium is now available digitally for the first time from eOne Music and begging to be reassessed. Back in the spring of 2000, it served notice that Crowbar's dark ambitions were becoming fully realized.

Tunneling its way deep inside some interstellar vortex of sound, Crowbar's swarming, cinematic cover of "Dreamweaver" is a mesmerizing aural experience, and it may just be the band's crowning achievement. Those bearing witness to the minor-key ruins of "To Touch the Hand of God," with its expansive, choral-like vocal arrangements, rainy intro and lonely, doom-laden piano plunking, might disagree, however.

Obviously, Equilibrium is ponderously heavy, its massive bulk breaking any scale that would attempt to measure the sheer tonnage of lugubrious, bulldozing title track and its slowly churning, ever-widening cousin "Command of Myself," precursors to the trudging, exploding punishment of "Eurphoria Minus One" and an even more vigorously combustible "Things You Can't Understand."

Sammy Pierre Duet joined Windstein on guitar, with Sid Montz on drums, for Equilibrium, the low-tuned, six-string devastation throughout retaining the hairy edge of Crowbar's hardcore punk roots –manifested in the raging, faster-paced "Uncovering." Where the band's last album, Symmetry in Black, unhinged its jaws and devoured everything in its path, Equilibrium is tougher, it hits harder and the payoffs are more immediate. Hopefully Crowbar will play a good portion of these tracks on its upcoming "Summer of Doom" tour with Lord Dying and Battlecross. Welcome to the 21st century, Equilibrium.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Lord Dying – Poisoned Altars

CD Review: Lord Dying – Poisoned Altars
Relapse Records
All Access Rating: A-

Lord Dying - Poisoned Altars 2015

There's plenty of sludge to crawl through on Lord Dying's roiling, action-packed sophomore LP for Relapse Records, Poisoned Altars, although it's not an arduous march.

Unlike other bands of their grim ilk, the doom-laden Portland outfit, creators of 2013's highly acclaimed Summon The Faithless album, don't just creep along stuck in low gear all day. Their paralyzing breakdowns result in unexpected tempo shifts, the epic, almost cinematic closer "Darkness Remains" expanding and changing course at will, as Lord Dying engages in push-pull dynamics that are compelling, to say the least.

And while "Suckling at the Teat of a She-Beast" is a frenzied charge of barely controlled thrash, the title track, "The Clearing at the End of the Path" and "(All Hopes of a New Day) ... Extinguished" are monolithic, chugging surges of iron-clad riffs powered by brutally heavy churn-and-burn machinery and caught in stormy sonic seas, tossed about along with mighty hooks, muscular grooves and growling vocals. Feel the hot breath of sinister blackened death-metal expelled in "Offering Pain (and an Open-Minded Center)." Get sucked into the infectious vortex of "A Wound Outside of Time." When it's all over, lay a sacrifice at these Poisoned Altars. For Lord Dying has wrought aural devastation on a biblical level, much as Crowbar and High On Fire have, and somehow, nobody got killed.
– Peter Lindblad

Best of 2014 in Metal and Hard Rock – Part II

Counting down the top five albums of the year
By Peter Lindblad

Crowbar's 'Symmetry in Black' is
our pick as the best album of 2014

No where in the Farmer's Almanac did it forecast heavy landslides of sludge or days of darkened, apocalyptic skies portending doom.

Such conditions were prevalent in the world of heavy metal, however, what with the blackened, cataclysmic audio devastation wrought this year by the likes of Obituary, Yob, Goatwhore, Eyehategod, Wo Fat, Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity.

Old reliable alternative-metal punishers Prong brought forth another blistering, hard-hitting screed on the ugly state of the world, while one of the band's former guitarists, a veteran sideman named Monte Pittman who's played with Madonna, of all people, released a solo album that not only showed off a diverse set of chops, but also had some solid songwriting to boot.

And then there were the '80s artists that somehow succeeded, against almost insurmountable odds, to recapture the magic of yesterday, like Winger, Tesla, Sebastian Bach, House of Lords, Rubicon Cross and their frontman C.J. Snare of Firehouse fame, and Red Dragon Cartel, featuring the long-exiled Jake E. Lee.

Whittling the best of 2014 down to a final five was no easy task. Without any more delay, here then are the top five albums of the year:

Tesla - Simplicity 2014

5. Tesla – Simplicity: Trends come and go. Tesla remained steadfast in its adherence to the basics on Simplicity, choosing good, solid songwriting and well-executed, tasteful musicianship over flashy playing and experimentation. Gnarled, passionate, blue-collar anthems for "Freedom Rock" holdouts mingled with heartfelt, torn-and-frayed ballads – cobbled together with a mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation – that soared made Simplicity a welcome throwback to their salad days, while the sunny Southern rock charm of "Cross My Heart" made it one of the best songs of the year. Keep it simple, Tesla.

Winger - Better Days Ahead 2014

4. Winger – Better Days Ahead: Nobody's laughing at Winger anymore, or at least they shouldn't be, not after striking musical gold on two strong LPs in a row. Building off the melodic complexity and surprisingly heaviness of Karma, Better Days Ahead showed even more diversity and maturity, positioning Winger as the most progressive and daring pop-metal band to survive the hair-sprayed glamour of the '80s. Time hasn't diminished their chops, and with Better Days Ahead, Winger combined power with precision on the rugged "Rat Race," while embracing funk on a bright, bouncy title track and swimming in the psychedelia of "Be Who You Are, Now." This is who they are, for better, not worse.

Goatwhore - Constricting Rage of the
Merciless 2014

3. Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless: Ferocious death metal with undercurrents of Southern boogie grooves – Constricting Rage of the Merciless is a holy terror of an album, as comfortable riding blazing-fast, charred thrash metal as it is crawling through thick, tar-like sludge with an evil grin on its dirty face. Highly combustible, brutal riffs are the order of the day, and they look to brawl with anybody that crosses their path of destruction. And for those who have the stomach for it, Goatwhore paints in bloody language grim scenes of torturous violence and horrific end-of-life struggles. Their rage is contagious.

Mastodon - Once More 'Round
the Sun 2014

2. Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun: Conceptually speaking, this isn't Leviathan. Aiming for more accessible and immediate rewards, Mastodon tightened up its song structures considerably and crafted big, muscular hooks for the vibrant, yet still intricate and massive Once More 'Round the Sun. They took a lot of heat for its video for "The Motherload," what with all that twerking going on. And not everybody's onboard with the band's sound evolving to become increasingly more radio-friendly. All that aside, Mastodon is still Mastodon, their mighty riffs are still enormous and blustery, Brann Dailor's drumming remains astoundingly intricate and powerful, and their guitar architecture, as always, is awe-inspiring.

Crowbar - Symmetry in Black 2014

1. Crowbar – Symmetry in Black: Underestimate Crowbar at your peril. This chugging behemoth, once a bit of a one-trick pony, has expanded its sludge-metal repertoire, thrashing with fierce intensity while also constructing mammoth, churning riffs that build slowly and grow to enormous tsunamis of doom. Expertly plotted, intricate movements crawl like primordial creatures, before evolving into thick, crushingly heavy monsters. What's surprising is how listenable it is. Calling it "melodic" might be a stretch, but every track is compelling in some way, hiding brawny, slow-developing hooks within its deeply blackened, impenetrable great walls of sound. What symmetry, what balance, what provocative lyrics – Crowbar has brought forth its masterpiece. Now go ahead and crown them kings of 2014.

CD Review: Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless

CD Review: Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless
Metal Blade
All Access Rating: A-

Goatwhore - Constricting Rage of the
Merciless 2014

The threat is very real. Rampaging NOLA underground metal demons Goatwhore issue a warning in the incendiary "Baring Teeth for Revolt" that they are "coming to smash your idols."

And that's probably the least hostile insurrectionist utterance in what is, for them, an angry and uncompromising missive wrapped in irresistibly sultry Southern boogie grooves as tight and action-packed as the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Constricting Rage of the Merciless, Goatwhore's newest Metal Blade incursion of blackened death metal, is a study in untamed ferocity and controlled aggression, with a track like "Reanimated Sacrifice" getting its complex hooks into its victims and gutting them like so many fish.

The blistering "FBS" has them, too, although Goatwhore saves that carnage for the end. Initially, it's an all-out stampede of blazing riffs and fast beats racing for their very lives. Death, of course, hangs around Constricting Rage of the Merciless, enjoying the dangerous philosophical ruminations and dense, evocative language of horror and abomination, while nodding his head to the galloping "Nocturnal Conjuration of Accursed" and getting his fill of the broken, stained-glass guitar intro to "Cold Earth Consumed in Dying Flesh" and then witnessing its slow churning sludge suddenly break out into a high-velocity drag race of the damned.

An explosive album, with daring, twists and turns that, more often than not, head straight down corridors of hellish atmospheres, Constricting Rage of the Merciless is uncompromising, heavy and focused on nothing but spewing forth its venom. The speeding, crunching "Heaven's Crumbling Walls of Pity" changes tactics in the middle of a war on mediocre metal and assumes a decidedly evil tone. An unending stream of ruthlessly efficient riffing, so enormous and brutal, comes pouring out of Goatwhore like rivers of blood on an album that runs on pure adrenaline, Goatwhore somehow avoiding being pigeonholed as black metal or death metal and just delivering constant slam-bang motion. Guitarist Sammy Duet, formerly of Crowbar and Acid Bath, captains a crew that plays with frightening intensity and skilled precision, and they are out to pillage and plunder without compassion. In other words, they are merciless.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Crowbar – Symmetry in Black

CD Review: Crowbar – Symmetry in Black

eOne Music

All Access Rating: A-

Crowbar - Symmetry in Black 2014

There's a stirring in the sludge. Three years dormant, following 2011's crunching return to form Sever the Wicked Hand, Crowbar, bloodied but unbowed, has surfaced from metal's filthy, oily muck to binge on the thickest, most engorged riffs possible and purge the eOne Music release Symmetry in Black, their 10th album.

And while it's unmistakably Crowbar, there's surprising diversity here, as well as a sonic richness that has the texture and feel of black velvet soaked in tar. Every move is deliberate on the sludge-metal juggernaut that is the well-designed Symmetry in Black, with its complex, slowly evolving grooves and subtle tempo changes, as well as expertly wound ropes of twin guitar. Symmetry in Black surges and churns with intensity of purpose and unimaginable power, the crawling brutality of "The Foreboding," the crushing weight of "Reflection of Deceit" and the building tsunami that is "A Wealth of Empathy" seemingly capable of flattening whole cities.

Deceptively intricate and relentlessly heavy, "Walk With Knowledge Wisely," "Shaman of Belief" and "Teach the Blind to See" – the incisive and evocative lyrics plumbing the depths of the human psyche – creep around aural dungeons, as a tortured, roaring Kirk Windstein tears his larynx to shreds, until Crowbar springs an ambush, racing ahead with trash-like rage, unleashing monstrous rogue waves of guitars or taking slight detours that almost reluctantly reveal themselves. 

On occasion, Crowbar turns expansive and melodic, drifting into celestial territory with the lonely and dreamy, yet still dark and unsettling, "Amaranthine," but they cannot contain their larynx-shredding rage, and it finds purchase in the blistering thrash-metal of "Ageless Decay." Windstein and his sinister henchmen Matthew Brunson (guitar), Tommy Buckley (drums) and Jeff Golden (bass) walk confidently through the shadow of death and embrace evil, lowdown tunings like an old friend, still worshiping at the altar of Black Sabbath but changing their incantations and exploring other aspects of their heritage. Black is their color.
– Peter Lindblad

Crowbar to release 'Symmetry in Black' this spring

NOLA metal miscreants celebrate 25th anniversary

Crowbar 2014
Photo by Zack Smith

When the thaw comes, so will the sludge, as New Orleans riff maulers Crowbar are set to deliver Symmetry in Black, their newest album, on May 27.

A day earlier, it will released in Europe through Century Media Records.

Produced by founding guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein and Duane Simoneaux, Symmetry in Black comes on the heels of 2011's Sever the Wicked Hand. Windstein is beyond excited about Crowbar's latest.

"We are so proud and excited about what we have accomplished with this record! The focus, determination and attitude in the band is at an all-time high," said Windstein. "We are 100 percent ready to get this juggernaut rolling and never touch the brakes again. Crowbar will not be stopped!"

Symmetry in Black will be Crowbar's tenth studio LP. Furthermore, this year is Crowbar's silver anniversary, marking 25 years since the band arrived on the metal scene kicking and screaming from the womb.

"Crowbar is my heart and soul," said Windstein. "The music is part of me that I am extremely proud of. It's an amazing feeling to be putting all of my energy and focus into something that I created 25 years ago! We are extremely excited to release our tenth full length and to bring the riffs to as many people as possible on tour. See you on the road!"

Having finished recording, Crowbar will fly over to the U.K. for a short tour. Windstein, guitarist Matt Brunson, drummer Tommy Buckley and bassist Jeff Golden will be supported by Hang The Bastard and Dropback. Crowbar will hit the European festival scene this summer, making appearances at Roadburn and Bloodstock. U.S. fans can witness the Crowbar carnage at Maryland Deathfest.