Crowbar
Equilibrium
Spitfire
Damn shame that the cover of Crowbar’s Equilibrium is strictly and sadly low-budget, ‘cuz this, the band’s sixth album, firmly cements their distinction as glue-core’s foremost ambassadors, the New Orleans quartet culpably capable of churning out the most gargantuan grooves this side of the sorely missed Sleep or turn-of-the-‘90s Trouble. Hard to differentiate Equilibrium from any of the previous Crowbars, as their depressive doom-mongering ethic is so etched in stone, it nearly parallels the slug’s pace the band usually operates at, yet there exists something resembling a pulse here, something resembling, daresay, accessibility that squarely lands Crowbar in the leagues of latter-day Corrosion Of Conformity for heavy-handed head-nod/nod-out hall-of-fame status. But surprises abound on Equilibrium, namely in the chilling piano-only dirge “To Touch the Hand of God” and the never-smug cover of Gary Wright’s AOR staple, “Dream Weaver,” where frontman Karl Windstein’s vocals float into the ether just as hauntingly as his and Sammy Pierre Duet’s effects-laden guitars do. Tune in, turn it up, and drop that cover in the dumpster, where it belongs.
