Album Review: Crowbar – Zero and Below (MNRK)

Sludge legends Crowbar are back with a brand-new album called ‘Zero and Below’. It will be released on March 4th, 2022 via MNRK.

Has it really been 6 years since the last Crowbar release? Even more so, has it really been 31 years since they released their debut?

Time sure does fly and so much has changed but Crowbar remain resolute in the face of a constantly shifting music industry. A band you can rely on to not make any abrupt changes, a band that remains steadfastly aggressive, dirty and in your face. Zero and Below is Crowbar doing what Crowbar do so very well. An album of grubby, riff-driven heaviness layered with dark bass hooks, pounding drums and of course, Kirk Windstein’s incomparable gruff vocals.

It starts off so strongly too as The Fear That Binds You comes screaming out of the blocks. The sludgy heaviness, the head-banging inducing riffs and the unmistakable growl of Windstein’s vocals. This is one hell of a modern Crowbar banger.

Dropping the tempo for a pair of tracks that have swamp-sucking tendencies, Her Evil Is Sacred and Confess to Nothing have that old-school Crowbar feel. The latter’s filthy rhythm is the stuff that makes you gurn with effort.

Chemical GODZ is a livelier effort but has grimy drops, Denial of Truth is a lumbering beast of sludgy doom proportions and Bleeding from Every Hole is as frantic and frenzied as it gets for Crowbar on this album. The consistency in noise is exemplary regardless of the tempo they hit. Though there is no denying the latter has real circle pit mayhem tendencies to it.

The high bar set already is met with the crunchy, pointed ferocity of Its Always Worth the Gain. A Crowbar banger with an unending level of fervour pouring from the instrumentation. Crush Negativity is an apt title as its riffs are rock-solid and the slow, rhythmic punch of this track hurts. However, the underlying message of this track, lyrically, is even more impactful.

Time is just a number to Crowbar and further proof of that comes with the final two songs: Reanimating A Lie and the title track. The former is riff heaven but has one hell of a thrashy moment, while the latter is sludge at its dirtiest. The choking haze, the invading stench of the swamp, the strength-sapping depths… it’s a Crowbar staple that every fan will lap up.

As brilliant as always. Crowbar don’t change much, but that’s fine because they always have ideas to enhance and compliment their familiar sound. Zero and Below is a Crowbar album through and through but it’s not a rethread of their greatest hits. It hits the middle point perfectly and that means it will stand the test of time.

Crowbar – Zero and Below Full Track Listing:

1. The Fear That Binds You
2. Her Evil Is Sacred
3. Confess To Nothing
4. Chemical GODZ
5. Denial Of the Truth
6. Bleeding From Every Hole
7. Its Always Worth the Gain
8. Crush Negativity
9. Reanimating A Lie
10. Zero and Below

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