Year Of Metal #039: Eyehategod - Eyehategod
The metal scholars have no doubt enjoyed many fruitful hours’ debate over the various merits of metals doom, stoner, and sludge. We’re firmly in the latter camp for the antagonistically monikered New Orleans act’s 2014 fifth LP, and you can start to make a few distinctions between the various subgenres. It’s doing a lot of the same stuff as the doom boys, but with a brattier, punk influence that makes this a sharp shock rather than an ominous trudge of a record.
With the caveat that its 43 minutes was quite enough for me (due to the unyielding nature of the sound rather than its harshness), I loved this one. Opener “Agitation! Propaganda!” is near-straight ahead hardcore for most of its runtime, ripping along with machine gun drums and an anxious, rising riff. Its last minute is given over to the slower, more brooding metal I was expecting. It’s a call to attention followed by a sink into the murk.
While the album is of a piece, there’s an impressive amount of texture for something so abrasive. “Trying To Crack The Hard Dollar” is a stand out, with peeling feedback floating against the gruff, downtuned guitar playing and a killer rolling riff as a centrepiece. Mike Williams’ vocals are desperately barked, but this track would be suitable for a Zach De La Rocha type to spew some invective over.
They’re also able to dial up the heaviness when they want to. I love the relentless, burrowing guitar line on “Robitussin And Rejection” - it feels like a string has been struck just once, with such force that the sound continues across the whole track. “Nobody Told Me”, meanwhile, injects some groove into proceedings, with a succession of killer riffs. If, as noted, the sound doesn’t change up so much, they do a lot of different things with that sound, from all-out savagery to more controlled bursts of aggression.
My favourite track is the sinister “Parish Motel Sickness”, a particularly sinister number which brings the violent bark of Williams’ voice to the fore. His performance here is one of rage and desperation - “Sometimes I’m stuck together / Sometimes I come unglued,” he howls as the song reaches its peak, before letting out a defeated groan of anguish. Lyrically the record tends towards the oblique, and the vocals themselves are more often than not somewhat buried in the mix, but the sense of suffering comes across all the same (this may be inference on my part having read about Williams’ personal struggles), here especially.
If The Melvins are the godfathers of this subset of heavy music, Eyehategod can’t be far behind. While I’m not looking for this kind of thing all the time, when you’re after some heavy, uncompromising music with dynamite riffs and thick, gooey bits you can sink into, this is a winner.
