EyeHateGod - Confederacy of Ruined Lives

New Orleans’ Eyehategod have spent the last two decades at odds with a corrupt music industry, using their music as a proverbial middle finger aimed at everything from government officials to sanctimonious shitheads hiding behind organized religion.

They have defied all odds and continue to exist and persist despite personal and professional setbacks, from drug addiction to natural disasters. In the midst of all this turmoil, Eyehategod have become the high water mark when it comes to “sludge metal”, having birthed rock’s unholy bastard feasting on the teat that Black Sabbath and Black Flag built.

Please read the full news report at:  BLABBERMOUTH.NET – EYEHATEGOD’s ‘Confederacy Of Ruined Lives’ To Be Released On Vinyl.

EyeHateGod - Confederacy of Ruined Lives

Mike Williams and Jimmy Bower of New Orleans sludge-meisters Eyehategod will be the featured guests on this weekend’s (May 21-24) edition of Full Metal Jackie’s nationally syndicated radio show.To see a full list of stations carrying the program and when it airs, go to FullMetalJackieRadio.com.

Here’s what Roadburn’s Drew Webster had to say about Eyehategod’s Confederacy of Ruined Lives in 2000: Lovers of self hatred and bludgeoning riffs rejoice! Eyehategod are back for real this time. Sure, they released Southern Discomfort not long ago, but that didn’t have any new material on it.  Confederacy of Ruined Lives is the first new EHG release since Dopesick in 1996.

For a long time, it looked as though drug addiction had taken its toll and ruined the band. They left a legacy of two classic records  In The Name of Suffering and Take As Needed For Pain and the slightly less great Dopesick. Among their accomplishments, EHG are credited with being the founders of sludge core. With its hateful, bleak, anguished vocals set against extra-slow sabbath inspired riffing, sludge was one of the most vital new genres of metal to emerge from the 1990’s.

Thanks to bands like Grief, Corrupted, Buzz-oven, Sour Vein, Bongzilla, Weedeater, Floor, Negative Reaction and now Eyehategod again, sludge seems poised to have even more impact in the 2000’s.
Charging straight out of the grave, Confederacy of Ruined Lives shows no signs of rigor mortis. Quite the opposite actually. It is still the same classic Eyehategod sound but now it’s a little faster, a little punchier, a little better.

The depth of the riff writing is the best of any Eyehategod release yet. Subtle twists and colorations unveil themselves with each passing listen. The production is a little brighter and cleaner, which makes the overall sound even more intense. The poorer production quality of  In The Name of Suffering went really well with the general sound and feeling of the music (it is sludge, after all), but progress sometimes has it’s price.

Musically, Confederacy… is superior to their other releases, so that’s the trade off. Standout tracks include the lurching stop time stutter of ‘Inferior and Full of Anxiety’, the punishing unison riffing of ‘Self Medication Blues’ and the hate and feedback fest ‘.001%.’ EHG even strays toward High on Fire territory on the relentless ‘The Concussion Machine Process.’

Summation: classic Eyehategod. No, make that slightly better than classic Eyehategod. Welcome back, we’ve missed you.
Drew Webster

Eyehategod

Kirk Windstein

Guitarist / vocalist Kirk Windstein (Crowbar, Down, Kingdom of Sorrow) has issued the following update:

“Got a good bit of good news to announce. Crowbar will be re-releasing the majority of the back catalog through Housecore Records (Down /ex-Pantera singer Philip Anselmo’s record label). These releases will be the ONLY official re-releases that myself and the band have agreed to.

“There are countless unauthorized re-releases out there. These were never OK’ed by me and are basically screwing the band. Most of these will be released on vinyl for the first time. We will also be putting out a limited-edition box set as well as a new live record and a CD of new material.”

via BLABBERMOUTH.NET – CROWBAR Back Catalog To Be Reissued.