ALBUM REVIEW: Zero And Below – Crowbar

CROWBAR are synonymous with sludge metal; that unholy fusion of hardcore punk and doom that could only have crawled from the humidity of New Orleans. Their swampy, bluesy bruising sound has battered eardrums for three decades now, led ever onwards by their gravel-throated frontman and the human riff himself, Kirk Windstein. Despite something of a revolving door line-up, their sound has remained consistent; the second twelfth album Zero And Below comes on, it’s indisputably CROWBAR. Unmistakable and unshakeable, they’ve carved odes to the downtrodden, the depressed and the broken-hearted for 30 years, and on this new album they continue to do what they’ve always done, and do it exceedingly well. 

From the punk snarl of opener The Fear That Binds You and its chugging, off-kilter verses, it’s immediately apparent that Zero And Below is the sound of a band still firing on all cylinders despite being so far into their career. Her Evil Is Sacred drops the tempo to a near dirge, the plodding pace still commanding sonic heft as the thick-as-molasses guitars and punchy drums steadily hammer away. They’ve long proven adept at tweaking their formula just enough to deliver something not quite like what came before, without deviating from their core sound that arguably fans neither expect, nor want, from them. 

Savage riffs abound in Chemical Godz and Reanimating A Lie, while they find solace in slow burning grooves with Denial Of The Truth and Confess To Nothing. For the full first half of the album, there’s nothing out of the ordinary and it’s very much in CROWBAR by numbers territory, sticking to their formula but still doing it well. It’s the gargantuan, arena-scraping leads of It’s Always Worth The Gain that truly stand out – a sudden burst of melody that underscores Windstein’s cacophonous growl and makes this an easy album highlight. The closing title track takes its name literally, slowing to a glacial crawl and opting for a slowly crushing end. It makes for a an interesting opposite to its opening counterpart, as although it’s considerably slower it loses none of the intensity. 

That Zero And Below is the CROWBAR people expect is no bad thing; they’ve carved out their niche, helping pioneer the New Orleans sludge scene and sound and retaining their identity throughout the decades and line-up changes. It’s an album that not only sounds exactly as good as fans have come to expect but also features some of the strongest songs they’ve put out recently; the aforementioned It’s Always Worth The Gain as well as the colossal title track are easy proof of this. In fact, the best part about Zero And Below might just be exactly that consistent identity and sound; thirty years into their career, CROWBAR can still deliver the same intensity and quality as they did ten, even twenty years ago. While it may not deviate from the sonic template, there was simply never any expectation of this; instead, Windstein and co. have delivered another platter of tar-thick despondency and desolation that only upholds and strengthens their already mighty stature.

Rating: 8/10

Zero And Below is set for release on March 4th via MNRK Heavy.

Like CROWBAR on Facebook.