Born from the worlds of doom, stoner and groove metal, usually with a zest of good ol’ southern charm, sludge quickly became one of the most recognisable sounds of the 90’s and no band has become as synonymous with the genre as Kirk Windstein and Crowbar. The band have stomped their whiskey drenched, pot hole ridden sound from the depths of Louisiana to the rest of the world and now, the band have released their latest album ‘Zero and Below’.
30 years into their career, everyone is familiar with what a new Crowbar album is going to sound like and the quality expected from such a pioneering name in the genre. It is there no surprise that ‘Zero and Below’ sounds, well… like Crowbar. The listener is treated to a quagmire of riffage so thick that the listener exerts a certain energy just by wading through it. Thankfully, that movement is helped by the pure groove that this album exudes as Windstein and company complete the task of creating those sexy, fluid riffs which cause the foot to tap away mindlessly before that wall of distortion hits them with a crowbar from behind and whilst they’re suffering with blunt force trauma, the pummelling rhythm section sticks the boot in.
There isn’t anything here that Crowbar fans haven’t heard before but once again, it is solid sludge metal wrapped up in a decent production that hits where it needs to. Ultimately, what ‘Zero and Below’ achieves is another Crowbar album that fits perfectly into a discography already gleaming with great albums.
