Crowbar - Zero and Below (2022)^{Release ID: 34772}

I have been a massive fan of doom metal since the 1980s when it wasn't even called doom metal yet. I'm also quite keen on hardcore punk - Bad Brains and Minor Threat are two of my favourite bands. Yet until relatively recently I wasn't especially keen on sludge metal. Early forays into bands like Acid Bath left me cold and it actually wasn't until I heard Mastodon's Leviathan that I finally got switched on to sludge. I mention this merely as a long-winded way of saying that I haven't ever before listened to an entire Crowbar album. Now this seems relevant as the consensus on Zero and Below is that it's another Crowbar album, no more no less and while it is good, it is very much like all the other Crowbar albums. So, at least in that respect, I can come at it with a fresh perspective rather than the rather jaded view of those more familiar with the band's previous material.
It's forty-odd minutes is chock-full of groove-laden and doomy riffs, expertly executed. The vocals are great too - one of my main problems with sludge is the vocals which often just sound too shouty for my personal taste, but Kirk Windstein strikes a decent balance between angsty and tuneful, the laid-back, Louisiana whiskey and cigarettes influence filing the harshest edges off like a single malt compared to rotgut moonshine. There are several tracks that have a significant groove metal factor, such as the opener, The Fear That Bind You and Chemical Godz, but in honesty I prefer the slower, doomier material such as Confess to Nothing and pick of the bunch, the title track Zero and Below. The production sounds great - everything is clear as can be and any distortion is intentional.

Without really being able to compare Zero and Below to the band's earlier discography, this seems like a solid release that is plenty enjoyable without pushing any boundaries or threatening classic status and I know it sounds like damning with faint praise, but sometimes that is enough. It hasn't given me any particular urge to explore Crowbar further, but at least I now know that they are indeed a decent band and I wouldn't avoid them either.