Crowbar: Time Heals Nothing (1995)

Merry Christmas!  Time to celebrate with this incredibly uplifting album!

After seeing Crowbar live earlier this year and being absolutely blown away by their performance, I decided it was probably time to get into some of their classic material.  For whatever reason, I never really did before.  My early experiences with them may have had something to do with that.  I remember them appearing on Beavis and Butthead a couple of times and the duo mercilessly mocking them.  So I got the impression they were sort of a joke.  But Kirk Windstein was a member of Down soon thereafter, which started the change in my position.  I had a couple of their later albums and a compilation that featured a number of tracks from various early releases, but never had any of their earlier full-lengths.  I tracked down this one because I had a decent idea of what to expect.

As would be expected for one of the progenitors of the sludge metal genre, this album is deliberately paced with devastatingly heavy riffs.  The riffs are not the only thing that is devastating however.  Crowbar's lyrics have often centered around personal pain and strife, and that is no exception with this album.  Songs like the title track, "Through a Wall of Tears" and "Embracing Emptiness" are musical exercises in futility.  The minor keys and bluesy sound of the riffs add to the overall misery seeping through each song.  This is some very dark stuff.

No discussion of Crowbar would be complete without discussing the work of its only permament member, Windstein.  His vocals are painful, adept at expressing frustration, sadness and anger all at once.  He is truly a one-of-a-kind vocalist who many have attempted to emulate but have not come close. 

This is one of the classic Crowbar releases, and for damn good reason.  Every song is powerful and the band members play off each other quite well.  This is one of the better examples of sludge metal that focuses more on the doom metal side of things.  This is a genre-defining classic.

Corrosion of Conformity and Crowbar: August 7, 2019

This has been a pretty busy week for concerts.  I went to shows on both Wednesday and Thursday.  And that could have been even more if not for my wife's sister's birthday on Saturday, otherwise I could have seen Decrepit Birth as well.

Wednesday's show was the better of the two as it was headlined by Corrosion of Conformity, a band of whom I have been a fan since I was just getting into metal.  It also featured the legendary Crowbar and a couple of opening acts.  The venue was The Slowdown, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues in Omaha.  The fact that it keeps getting the best shows in the area certainly helps.

The opening act was a group called Lo-Pan from Columbus, Ohio.  Their sound made them fit in quite well with the two lead acts as they played a style of stoner metal/rock music.  The fact that the band is named after the villain in Big Trouble in Little China is just a big plus.  They had some catchy songs and a terrific vocalist.  That vocalist was the highlight of their show.  He had some massive lung support and had a very melodic, crooning style.  The drummer was also damn impressive.

The second band was called Quaker City Nighthawks.  They were more of a rock band and looked like throwbacks to Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The vocalist had long hair, a cowboy hat and rose-colored glasses.  They were decent, with a Southern rock style that called to mind a mix of Skynyrd, Johnny Cash and ZZ Top.  Not bad, but not my particular style.

Next up was Crowbar.  Now, my first exposure to Crowbar was Beavis and Butthead.  And for some reason I have never really gotten into them that much.  I enjoy their music quite a bit, but I have not often gone out of my way to pick up new albums.  But after their concert, that may change because holy shit did they put on a great show.  Kirk Windstein (who was involved in Down, still my favorite supergroup) complained that his voice was a little off, but with his vocal style, having throat issues just made it sound that much better.  They played a shockingly energetic set given their general downer style.  Crowbar was probably the highlight of the night.  And hey, I got to shake Windstein's hand after their set.

Next was Corrosion of Conformity.  Pepper Keenan returned to the band recently and the band returned to their Southern metal style from his tenure on their latest album.  The show was likewise primarily covering Keenan's time in the band instead of their earlier crossover/hardcore style.  I still believe that one of the greatest three-song openings to an album is the first three tracks off of Deliverance, and all three were represented in the concert, with "Clean My Wounds" being the encore selection.  In general the band played all of the songs I expected and even included "Vote with a Bullet", a highly underrated song from Blind, the Karl Agell record, though it features Keenan on vocals.  It was one of the more energetic and crowd-engaging concerts I have seen in awhile. 

Honestly, this is going to rate highly as a favorite concert this year.  Both Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity were on top of their games that night, and the songs sounded great.  I never considered skipping this concert even though I knew there was going to be another show I would attend the next day.  I'm damn glad I didn't because I missed C.O.C. a couple times recently.  And seeing them with Crowbar was just that much better because the two bands complement each other quite well.  This was a terrific show. 

2011 in Review: Top Ten

10. SKELETONWITCH: FOREVER ABOMINATION
Despite arriving around the same time as the retro thrash metal movement and being largely considered one of the bands in said movement, Skeletonwitch has proven to be a much more resilient and impressive band. The band's take on old school blackened thrash with a modern approach has really come into its own. I have enjoyed all of their albums so far, but this one has been the best yet.

9. PRIMORDIAL: REDEMPTION AT THE PURITAN'S HAND
Ireland's top metal band has released yet another classic album with this year's release. While it is not quite as good as their previous release, it definitely still has its moments. Of course the band would not be nearly as impressive were it not for its stunningly talented lead singer.

8. THE GATES OF SLUMBER: THE WRETCH
Traditional doom metal has of course been making a major comeback in recent years and The Gates of Slumber is at the top of the movement. The band has an impressive sound without sounding too retro. The power trio seems to get better and better with each successive album.

7. CROWBAR: SEVER THE WICKED HAND
Crowbar returned for their first new album in nearly six years in 2011 and Kirk Windstein had a whole lot more pain to sing about here. Dealing with overcoming a drug addiction is an extremely painful process, one which the band covers on this incredible release featuring some of the band's best riffing in years.

6. DECEASED...: SURREAL OVERDOSE
Yet another band with a new release after a long time without any new full-lengths, Deceased... has been quietly one of this country's greatest unknown bands. The first band to sign to Relapse Records, Deceased... is still largely the same band that was an early pioneering death metal band.

5. SEPTICFLESH: THE GREAT MASS
Probably my second favorite Greek metal band, next to the amazing Rotting Christ, Septicflesh's sound is much more of a symphonic death metal band. Their music can best be described as epic. It is surprisingly catchy for a band of this style.

4. FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE: AGONY
It was apparently a good year for symphonic death metal as Fleshgod Apocalypse released a stunning album as well. The band's second album was even an improvement on their first album. We are witnessing the growth of an incredible new band.

3. REVOCATION: CHAOS OF FORMS
The thrash metal album of the year was from a band that was largely derided as a retro thrash metal throwaway for some time. But the band's other influences shined through on this release. Their technicality has improved and even some jazz influences popped up.

2. ULCERATE: THE DESTROYERS OF ALL
New Zealand's Ulcerate was born out of brutal death metal and added some surprisingly effective post-metal dissonant guitar melodies. The drumming has remained rooted in brutal death though. This was very nearly the album of the year.

1. SATAN'S HOST: BY THE HANDS OF THE DEVIL
Metallattorney's Album of the Year comes from this Colorado metal band that has released their finest album in years. Their blackened thrash metal material over the last few years has been impressive enough, but reuniting with original singer Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin of Jag Panzer has been a revelation. It can best be described as blackened power metal. An incredible album from start to finish.

Best Albums of 2011 (So Far)

I have not been able to check out as much stuff as I would like this year due to wedding plans and the opening up of my own law office, but here are my Top 10 so far. This list is subject to change at any time.

10. PSYCHO: PAIN ADDICT PIGS
9. VOMITORY: OPUS MORTIS VIII
8. CAULDRON: BURNING FORTUNE
7. HEATHENDOM: THE SYMBOLIST
6. AMON AMARTH: SURTUR RISING
5. CROWBAR: SEVER THE WICKED HAND
4. THE GATES OF SLUMBER: THE WRETCH
3. PRIMORDIAL: REDEMPTION AT THE PURITAN'S HAND
2. ULCERATE: THE DESTROYERS OF ALL
1. SATAN'S HOST: BY THE HANDS OF THE DEVIL

Initial Impressions: Crowbar: Sever the Wicked Hand

The fact that this is the first 2011 album I bought tells you a few things. First, I have not been ordering much music online due to my ongoing efforts at starting my own firm, and second, Hastings has been really horrendously bad at getting new metal in lately. So with that out of the way, this is the first 2011 album I have bought. I did review those albums for Metal on Metal Records but that does not really count.

Now, on to the actual review.

Crowbar is of course a legendary band from the swamps of Louisiana. This is their first album since 2005 and features most of the things you would expect from a Crowbar release. Crowbar is the baby of Kirk Windstein, who uses the band as a vehicle for expressing his own personal struggles and hardships, in particular with this album, his ongoing attempt at sobriety.

Windstein's sludgy, doom-laden riffs are of course the main highlight in any Crowbar album. His Sabbathian riffs are extremely distorted and down-tuned and they twist and writhe along with the pounding rhythms. The rest of the instrumentation is impressive as well, but let's be honest here, this is Windstein's show at this point. The other musicians are just along for the ride.

The lyrical theme of the album is, as I mentioned, Windstein becoming sober. Even the cover art and title of the album allude to it. Windstein has a gift for writing heart-wrenching and somber songs and he takes full advantage of it with the tracks "Liquid Sky and Cold Black Earth" and "Let Me Mourn".

This is a powerfully emotional album. It's often slow, but oppressively heavy. Windstein has done a lot of work with other bands, such as Down and Kingdom of Sorrow, but he always saves some of his best work for Crowbar. This is an early frontrunner for Album of the Year.