Review by Daniel for Eyehategod - Take As Needed for Pain (1993)
It's been just over two years since I finally decided to take the plunge with New Orleans sludge metal phenomenon Eyehategod through their very solid 1996 third album "Dopesick". I found that I really enjoyed their drug-fueled, desolation-inducing brand of sludge at the time & wondered why it'd taken me so long to get them given their stature in the scene, even if some of the more groovy stoner inspired moments weren't particularly to my taste. I subsequently added Eyehategod's other supposed classic in 1993's "Take as Needed for Pain" to my to-do list but it's probably more of a reflection of just how greedy I am for quality metal to find that it's taken me this long for that investigation to actually come to fruition. I'm glad it has though as the effort was certainly paid off.
After reading my review of "Dopesick", I've almost decided that there's no need to review "Take as Needed for Pain" given just how similarly I feel about it. In fact, that review perfectly describes what I've been thinking of writing for this one so I'd suggest that "Dopesick" was very much "Take as Needed for Pain Part II". There's nothing particularly fresh or new about Eyehategod's second full-length either though. It's simply a highly effective sneak-peak into the mind of a down & out drug addict, living in redneck America with a level of pent-up anger that would seem ready to explode into violence at any moment. What we have here is some crushingly heavy sludge metal riffs of pure doom, taking the occasional groovy stoner metal direction to break up the misery, & with a super-pissed & vicious front man who does his very best to make sure that your attention doesn't deviate from the horrifying human car crash he's describing in great detail.
As expected, I'm nowhere near as big a fan of the stoner parts as I am the remainder of the album but I can accept that this element is a part of Eyehategod's identity & move on to the more attractive (yet equally repulsive) darker shit, even if my scoring has been capped a little as I don't think I could consider my more elite ratings for a record like this one where none of the twelve tracks reach classic status for me. There are a couple of moments across the fifty minute run time where the album temporarily loses my interest too with the more stoner-inspired "Sister Fucker (Part I)" not being to my taste & closing tape music interlude "Laugh It Off" being pretty much a waste of space. It's hard to pick out the highlight tracks from this lot as the stronger moments tend to have a lot in common with each other but, if pushed, I'd probably mention songs like opener "Blank" (my personal favourite), "Shop Lift" & the bravely-titled "White Nigger". There's a clear correlation between the increase in stoner & my scoring dropping off a touch though which I could have told you would be a problem.
It's really very hard to pick a winner between Eyehategod's two most widely celebrated album "Take as Needed for Pain" & "Dopesick" as there's nothing between them as far as I can see. Perhaps the fact that I've now spent a fair bit of time with "Dopesick" is seeing me just leaning towards it by the slightest of margins but if you enjoy one then you'll no doubt really dig the other too. Is this the pinnacle of the sludge movement? Nah... I don't think so personally but I'll be damned if it's not a worthwhile exercise in general discomfort & depravity though. As will all good sludge metal, the world that Eyehategod depict isn't a pleasant one but there's a twisted part of my brain that craves this sort of misery. Perhaps my wife is right & I've simply taken too many drugs in my life. Personally, I'd suggest that I haven't taken enough of the good ones but that's just me. Regardless, all druggy sludge metal devotees will likely want to ensure that they acquaint themselves with "Take as Needed for Pain" as it's a high-quality & undeniably important release for the genre.
For fans of Acid Bath, Iron Monkey & Crowbar.