Artist: Crowbar
Label: Spitfire
Release Date: 3/7/00
|
|
Title: Equilibrium Artist: Crowbar Label: Spitfire Release Date: 3/7/00 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
|
1 | ||
|
2 | ||
|
3 | ||
|
|
Go to Reader Reviews | ||
Abyss's Review:
God, I just really don't like this band. Every disc I've ever heard of theirs just exudes mediocrity, and this album is no different. It can trick you, however, with a first song that seems to have some merit, but trust me, within a few minutes it becomes painfully clear how one-dimensional this band is. Everything from the vocals to the drums seems to be the same in every song, but experimenting with their processors still wouldn't be enough to make this band interesting.
For those of you who have never heard this band before, they were originally labeled as Pantera clones, but in all honesty, that isn't a fair comparison. Say what you will about Pantera, but when it comes to musicianship and artistic integrity they are light years ahead of Crowbar. I was hoping that the inclusion of Sammy Duet to the band would help bring something else to the band, but as much as it hurts to say it, he seems just to have gotten swallowed into the communal mediocrity. I pray he just didn't have that much input in the songwriting, but that might be just wishful thinking. I find it depressing that he went from a groundbreaking band like Acid Bath, to this cookie-cutter, conveyer belt pap.
"Every disc I've ever heard of theirs just exudes mediocrity, and this album is no different." The less said on this band the better because I feel no reason to just put this band down. I did give it one skull because their songs are mildly catchy, and when one hears them their initial response might be positive, but it's a hollow victory, because it becomes obvious quite quickly that there just isn't any substance behind it.
Death's Review:
Admittedly, I'm not that familiar with the Crowbar body of work. I remember hearing a couple of tracks back in the heyday of Headbanger's Ball, primary among them being "All I Had I Gave," or something like that, and feeling back then like the boys deserved some degree of respect and admiration for the gutteral honesty they exhuded even on casual listens. I was cool with what I heard, for sure, but wasn't really feeling it enough to buy the record. Que sera.
"The grooves aren't deep enough, the tunes aren't catchy enough, the riffs aren't heavy enough, the voice isn't interesting enough and the musicianship isn't accomplished enough to make we want to spend much time." Fast forward way too many years, past a vague recognition somewhere that someone from Crowbar had something to do with the Pantera/C.O.C./Crowbar member side-project Down, to this week when we decided to review the new Crowbar for Metal Judgment. I have to admit, I was intrigued. If they were still around today, perhaps their sound had either evolved or solidified enough to pummel the living shit out of me with Crowbar's own unique brand of bludgeoning. I guess I was hoping for the southern drawl of a Down, Pantera, C.O.C., Acid Bath or Black Label Society with the total metallic groove and aggression the aforementioned acts also employ.
Did I get what I hoped for? Not exactly. To be fair, I guess the above wish list does technically describe Equilibrium. Certainly the first track, "I Feel the Burning Sun," has the downtuned, wild bend feel of Zack's band, at least. After hearing that tune, my hopes were high. Unfortunately, it's all down hill from there. Seriously, these songs just don't stick. There's nothing wrong with them, but they don't stay with me, and just plain aren't that interesting. Perhaps there is a big-time Crowbar fan out there who can explain it to me. But to these ears, the grooves aren't deep enough, the tunes aren't catchy enough, the riffs aren't heavy enough, the voice isn't interesting enough and the musicianship isn't accomplished enough to make we want to spend much time. I really wanted to like this album, but probably won't be listening to it too much from here on out. As such, a 2 is about the best I can do.
Hel's Review:
For some reason - one which has eluded me since the moment I laid hand on this disc - I have long had a negative bias against Crowbar. So, I admit, I faced this review with a complete lack of enthusiasm. I know I must have developed this viewpoint somewhere, but whatever it may have been from, after listening to Equilibrium I felt as though I had been misinformed.While I'm not being spectacularly knocked on my ass, it lands head and shoulders above where my preconceived expectations had left it. The album is comprised mostly of straightforward, heavy riffs and relatively simple song structures. The musicianship is solid. The music has that Black Sabbath-y rock and roll feel, and occasionally evokes thoughts of Crisis.
The majority of the songs are of a similar tempo/vibe, which I can only suitably classify as being full-on rockers. There is only one total exception to that, one which shows real diversity. This would be the atmospheric, hymn-like "To Touch the Hand of God", featuring: 1) the sound of rain falling, 2) simple, dark piano chords, 3) a little keyboards, and 4) church-y sounding vocals. It's actually kinda trippy. Speaking of trippy, "Buried Once Again", screams stoner rock to me.
"Pleasantly surprised but not blown away." Yes, I spent a lot of time trying to cram these men into a musical sub-category. I do this primarily to combat the negative feelings I talked about in the beginning. To, hopefully, ultimately form a coherent picture of their music as a whole. In the end, regardless of their musical orientation specifics, I continually find myself returning to: pleasantly surprised but not blown away.
[- Metal Judgment Home -] [- Email Metal Judgment -]
©1999 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.