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: 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.