EYEHATEGOD - Confederacy of Ruined Lives
September 25, 2000, 24 years ago
(Century Media)
While I'm usually happy to see a band grow and change artistically, the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" also has a certain ring to it sometimes. Putting on a new CD by one of your favorite bands and it being exactly what you were expecting is a pretty rockin' feeling sometimes, as was the case with this new disc by one of my all-time faves, Eyehategod. This is their first album since Dopesick from 1996; since then they broke-up, put out a rarities CD entitled Southern Discomfort, and got back together. Per usual, some feedback starts off the proceedings, and then into the down-tuned, sludgy, swampy, drug-laden (although they've apparently cleaned-up their notorious drug habits it still sounds, well, stoned), southern rock/sludgecore, the same sound that they've had for ten years now, and it still sounds awesome. Heavy and disturbing, a listen to any of this band's albums is always a glimpse into the darker side of life; 3 A.M. in the bus station, 4 A.M. buying various illegal substances, 5 A.M. barely alive in the hospital kinda thing. Think Sabbath meets Grief, Skynyrd meets Soilent Green, either of the Allman brothers meets Isis; think Neurosis playing at the bottom of the Mississippi. I'm only taking a point off because it's almost too much: the disc is a brief 40 minutes and I have a hard time getting through even that, given that all the negativity can kinda wreck your day. Essential listening for the antisocial.
