Reviews list for Crowbar - Odd Fellows Rest (1998)

If you've heard Crowbar before, then you know what you are getting here, it's NOLA sludge metal, and I would echo what I wrote in my review of Symmetry in Black. Crowbar write slow impossibly hefty riffs and sing about dealing with lows in life. The formula is incredibly consistent, and it's sublime music for weight lifting. This album is notable for containing "Planets Collide" which is considered by many to be the bands best song to date. However, for me it's all about "To Carry the Load". "...And Suffer as One", "It's all in the Gravity", and "New Man Born" are also bangers, but every track is great. Put this on when you need to get through some hard times, or just simply beat your current bench press max!

An unfortunate example of an album where the first (actual) track is far and away the best song on the album, and a bit misleading. After a moody intro, Crowbar open up Odd Fellows Rest with “Planets Collide,” their Doomiest song yet, with plodding atmosphere and emotional guitar leads paving the way for the destructive, pained vocals and lyrics. It’s a great song in evoking the pessimistic suffering when Sludge and Doom are mixed so well.

And then, almost all of the following songs trade this sort of atmosphere for a more Groove-oriented rhythmic chugging. Guitar leads are basically absent. Riffs are sometimes monolithic, but lack emotion. Rhythm section is more boring. The songs are still good, but pale in comparison to the opener and much of the band’s previous material. It does sound very 90’s and it’s got that stereotypical “we don’t need to write riffs if we chug” play style. Unfortunately this one was a big disappointment for me, especially after that first track.