•
Rating: And to think I didn't even believe in the existence of Sludge. Hardcore Punk with Doom and Southern Rock influences? What?!
I've always classified everything that's musical and reminiscent of the '70s, is hazy, psychedelic, overloaded with fuzz, and terribly desert-like as Stoner; I was wrong.
Oh, how wrong I was!
Maybe it's because the smoke is better in New Orleans (NO), Louisiana (LA). Maybe it makes you angrier than ever. Maybe it's because these four good fellas - Phil "Boar" Anselmo (Pantera), Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity), Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), Jimmy Bower (Crowbar), and Todd Strange (Crowbar) - seem like the bastard sons of Black Sabbath.
With the afore-mentioned Stoner, Down has everything and nothing in common: forget psychedelic marches, soft soundscapes with vocal, bass, guitar effects and any other devilry, intricate, twisted, dreamlike, and disorienting songs. Done? Good.
The four from New Orleans are not dreamy and twisted at all. They're mad as hell. Listening to their album is like getting hit with a 5cm sawed-off shotgun blast, with everything it entails.
Now, I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but it's certainly what I needed.
The platter opens with an unrestrained initial trio (Temptations Wings/Lifer/Pillars Of Eternity): Keenan's seismic riffs are the best heard since good old Iommi, flowing without taking any prisoners. Anselmo's voice is ugly, hoarse, perfect for creating the atmosphere that saturates the album's songs.
Let me linger on the riffs: guys, do you hear them? They're indescribable: a wall of a few simple notes that kick you in the face.
Special mention goes to that big guy on the drums, Jimmy Bower: the worthy heir of John Bonham, no doubt. A rock-solid, no-frills drumming, colossal in its sonic majesty; getting hammered has never been so enjoyable, really!
The album proceeds, between blues riffs taken to the extreme, odes to marijuana and Louisiana, until reaching that little gem that is Jail: a drop of silence in a sea of furious watts.
The atmosphere softens, everything slows down, stops. A "Planet Caravan 25 years later" leads us to a personal reflection, still worn out by the adrenaline of the previous songs.
The band brings out magical arpeggios, percussion, and even a mandolin. Ahh, a breath of fresh air was needed!
There's barely time to catch a breath - after the tribute, first with music and then with a title, to Led Zeppelin (Pray For The Locust/Swan Song) - before it immediately reaches the peak of the album: that generational anthem that is Bury Me In Smoke, a splendid sludge ride, raw and diabolical to the core, a true declaration to the whole world. Anselmo outdoes himself here, with a text laden with strong tones, mocking death with a ritual joint in hand. Unbeatable.
... It's been an hour since the album started. We're exhausted, sweaty, physically destroyed... but happy. Happy to have shared with four good (yes, yes...) guys the passion for music, the kind played from the heart for the heart, so much genuine rage, a lot of blues, and a lot of '70s attitude. With Down, being angry has never been so much fun.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Temptation's Wings (04:24)
I feel the pressure, it lightens
to judge this spirit of mine
to be like the judgement
to be the king that is left behind
to hell with I miss you
I said I 'd do it alone
ripping apart from you
a broken vision to call my own
I gave my life to reason
so now I'm watching my life go
my wit is falling apart
I can't shake temptations wings
I can't shake temptations wings
I bury my head with frustration
and I look at others and wonder why(?)
I'm feeding my cancer
A broken vision that stole my sight
I gave my life to reason,
So now I'm watching my life go -
My wit is falling apart
I can't shake Temptation Wings!
temptations wings...
temptations wings got me pale
why?
02 Lifer (04:36)
free at last, I'm the past,
undone in unknown prison,
I'm holding on. Peace and need?
A mouth to feed?
I'm standing way on
the other side. I'm staring
right back at myself,
and through it's frozen image,
I'm laughing right back
at my health - Lifelong
Arms in knots, never spot,
My blood is fading
on the world. Stealing keys?
Soul to me?
and to the BrotheRhood with what
writes the pain.
I'm staring
right back at myself,
and through it's frozen image,
I'm laughing right back
at my health - Lifelong
I'm a lifer.
I'm staring
right back at myself,
and through it's frozen image,
I'm laughing right back
at my health
I'm a lifer.
03 Pillars of Eternity (03:57)
Crumbling world falls through my hands
In my mouth taste bitter sands.
Grass is burning, pulse is slow.
Drip by drip my backwards growth... crawl.
Fade to hate.
And I'll die within my fade
Wine, song, women, birth
This deflowered mother earth
Planting, plowing, how she grieves.
The seeds that grow these dying trees
Fade to hate
And I'll die within my fade
Fade to hate
And I'll die within my fade
05 Hail the Leaf (03:28)
That brave river, I can't sail.
Because of that lone feeling,
That I might fail.
So {fuck it.}
I just smoke-
Let me feel stoned
6th hour.
I still fail to rise,
And I cower in
Reality's eyes, so I
Just smoke-
Let me feel stoned
{let that paranoia cut
My head off.
I'm low down
Crying shame today}
Smoke-
Stoned
I have fallen
Scattered the wave
Alone I'm crying
Broken shade
So I just smoke-
Let me feel stoned
I can't feel you
You can't brave(the river?)
No more sadness no more pain
Not what feeds you but what raves
No more sadness no more....
06 Underneath Everything (04:46)
Woe to me, battered man
raise the monolith
deitize my spirit rise
like days the world forgets - down the
drain - laid to lame
a fool-ass hearty bliss
borderline suicide,
celebrate before my death
your promised land divide,
that's why the world lies.
I give up.
That's enough. I give up.
I'm underneath my life.
dog in heat, beware the street
its there you'll meet your end
poverty is not for me,
but I'll take her back again
to prove a point,
to laugh it off, to cross you off my path,
grip the night, pull the cord,
a much inspired wrath.
your promised land divide,
that's where the world lies.
I give up.
That's enough. I give up.
I'm underneath my life.
carry me back from the war
and from the lord.
10 Stone the Crow (04:42)
A bout of deep depression.
Can't seem to move it forward.
My lying eyes lie awake.
Not sure what I am after.
I never died before.
Can't live what happened yesterday.
I never stoned the crow, no.
Flip through endless stories.
A life of hand-written pain.
No one can share this hurt that is mine, mine, mine.
I never died before.
Can't be what happened yesterday.
I shouldn't stone the crow, no.
Ride on!
Same old city, same old pain
No matter how I try,
No matter what I say
I'm blamed
I'm Shamed
I'm judged unfairly
So now I've died before
it feels as bad as yesterday
i never stoned the crow
You to have died before
i'm not as stoned as yesterday
I never stoned the crow, stoned the crow no, no...
13 Bury Me in Smoke (07:04)
Windows are closing key is locked away
No chance was given to find myself today...
My time of aging... wonder when I'll die...
But When My Time Will Come I Know The Reason WHYYYY!!!
I have to Risk It... Alone it keeps me safe and in my home
I have to use it... To keep me satisfied until Im gone
Dont regret the rules I broke... When I Die Bury Me in smoke!
Under the world I wait for my fate
My bodies lying benesth my blissful state
My time of aging wonder when Ill die
But when my time will come, I know the reason why
I have to risk it... alone it keeps me safe and in my home
I have to use it... to keep me satisfied until im gone
Dont regret the rules I broke, When I die bury me in smoke
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By 3poundsoflove
Nola is an album that will not disappoint fans of hard-hitting rock, composed of riffs intertwined with other riffs, with an unmistakably Southern flavor.
Stone the Crow, along with the swampy atmosphere of Jail, is destined to be remembered as one of the highest peaks of the careers of this band’s members.
