crowbar sever the wicked hand

Released: 14 February 2011 Label: Century Media

Please excuse me if I chain smoke and wallow in post auditory bliss while writing this review.

First off, this album is long overdue. Crowbar's ninth studio release Sever the Wicked Hand comes six years to the day after the 2005 release of Lifesblood for the Downtrodden.

While Crowbar were away, imposing and unforgettable frontman Kirk Windstein struggled with the demons of alcohol and substance abuse and appears to have emerged renewed, triumphant, and sober, but no less able to deliver the defining rage-filled, disassociated, and furious payload that Crowbar have always been notorious for.

Twenty year veterans of the NOLA sludge metal scene, Crowbar are undoubtably one of the pioneers of that regional genre. Currently boasting an impressive line-up featuring Tommy Buckley (Soilent Green) on drums, Patrick Bruder (ex-Goatwhore) on bass, and Windstein's Kingdom of Sorrow bandmate Matthew Brunson on guitar, Crowbar are back with a proverbial vengeance, and poised to take the metal world by the short and curlies and swing real hard.

Sever the Wicked Hand is a bruised, moody collection of anguish filled tunes that metaphorically carries the listener through the entire cycle of Windstein's torment and struggle with addiction. It can easily be interpreted as an auditory representation of his journey through purgatory, hell, and eventual catharsis and recovery. Past albums, though each brilliant in its own right, never seemed to reach the catharsis stage quite like Sever... does, and the result is a well rounded record with an obvious renewed sense of vigor and self-actualization.

Opening track Isolation (Desperation) has some elements of a hardcore / breakdown style sound, but delivered with much more grit and panache than any breakdown has ever offered. Denser, weightier... more like a "smashdown"

Other gems like Liquid Sky and Cold Black Earth and I Only Deal in Truth are pure, classic Crowbar - unyielding, gritty and uncompromising - exactly what we've grown to love about these legends.

Haunting numbers such as Echo An Eternity, Cleanse Me, Heal Me and Symbiosis have a leaden, desolate sound that temperamentally grinds into the soft pulp of your psyche like a sharp pair of soccer (or football!) cleats. It's here that we can really taste for ourselves the harrowing road of affliction and salvation that Windstein has traveled since Crowbar's last offering.

Once again, the NOLA scene is done proud. Crowbar's long awaited comeback is a barbarous testimony to the true grit of what that region never fails to deliver - filthy, smoldering, seething metal, that rearranges your mind and leaves a hell of a scar when the operation's over.

by Aline Miladinovich