Last Friday saw the official unveiling of Zero And Below, the quaking new full-length from New Orleans, Louisiana sludge metal trailblazers CROWBAR, out now on MNRK Heavy! Produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording And Production in Metairie, Louisiana, Zero And Below is reverently old-school, counterbalanced by a resonant melodicism that’s stunningly mature. The record, which cements the band’s dense catalog exactly one dozen studio albums deep, is the most unforgivably doom-driven CROWBAR record since their 1998 landmark effort, Odd Fellows Rest. Australian heavy media have lapped up the release, with outlets lavishing praise:
The moment you hear it, you know it’s CROWBAR. Led by riff lord/vocalist Kirk Windstein, with guitarist Matt Brunson, bassist Shane Wesley, and drummer Tommy Buckley, songs like “Chemical Godz,” “It’s Always Worth The Gain,” and “Bleeding From Every Hole,” are unapologetic emotional outpourings, with a bare-knuckle resolve alongside its soul-searching vulnerability, reliably delivered with crushing heaviness. A genuine band’s band, with a wide-ranging influence across multiple genres, CROWBAR “helped draw up the sludge metal blueprints” (Kerrang!).Writes Blabbermouth of Zero And Below in part, “”The Fear That Binds You’ is just the oppressive, riff-driven tonic that CROWBAR fans have come to expect. Huge of riff and insistent of groove, it’s as brutish and unforgiving as anything in the band’s repertoire, and Windstein sounds newly engaged, clearheaded,and seriously pissed off. ‘Her Evil Is Sacred’ turns up the doom and the tempo, and it’s CROWBAR in their absolute element: riffs that just won’t quit, and an incensed, near-feral vocal from the man himself. ‘Confess To Nothing’ and ‘Chemical Godz’ both deliver the classic Windsteinian goods: the former is a slithering, swamp-dwelling thing, propelled forward on waves of unease; the latter is a turbulent, soul-sapping monolith to its creators’ original blueprint, with Sabbath-ian rumble and woozy, tripped out terror equally integral to its impact.” Decibel Magazine hails a record that’s, “...as dark and heavy as a midnight avalanche,” further noting, “The band balances their signature grimy groove with scrumsof hardcore punk while nodding to Carnivore’s Retaliation. It’s intentionally old school through and through down to the influences that helped chisel Obedience Through Suffering out of pure granite.” Adds Metal Injection, “It’s slow (but not too slow) and dark and heavy as the swamps are deep. Their music makes you feel like you’re trudging in the marshlands around Lake Martin in the middle of the night while being slowly pursued by some deviously hungry gators…besides the songcraft and the heaviness, the one thing that CROWBAR has just so much of is soul. Windstein’s voice is so real, approachable and downright soulful. You feel what he’s feeling…“Zero And Below is available on CD, LP, cassette, and digitally. Preview and purchase the record at THIS LOCATION. View the band’s previously-released video for “Chemical Godz” HERE and “Bleeding From Every Hole” HERE.
