CROWBAR - Lifesblood For The Downtrodden
February 1, 2005, 19 years ago
(Candlelight)
There are certain things that simply must appear on a Crowbar album, and despite an interminable hiatus while Kirk Windstein focused on his Down activities, the world's premier sludgecore squad (which, on this occasion, co-stars ex-Pantera bassist Rex Brown and Black Label alumnus Craig Nunenmacher) fulfils every expectation on this eighth studio outing. The slow-mo Sabbath riff worship of old remains in tact, Windstein still sounds like he's trying to shit himself inside out whilst suspended in a vat of treacle, and the band's trademark levels of bowel-threatening heaviness have simply been dusted off and reanimated. There has been significant progress, however, not least in songwriting terms. While previous albums have meandered and occasionally stifled through a sheer lack of variety, Lifesblood For The Downtrodden bulges with fresh input. From the dramatic, soulful dynamics of 'Fall Back To Zero' and the biblical savagery of 'The Violent Reaction' through to the title track's sprawling, 'Planet Caravan'-like stupor-cum-climax, the sound of Crowbar in 2005 is considerably more fascinating than ever before.
