Crowbar - The Garage, London - March 4 2014 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 05 March 2014
Written by Alec Chillingworth
It's 25 years since Crowbar first dipped toes in the murky waters of sludge metal, and on this evidence, Kirk Windstein and his New Orleans wrecking crew will be around for a while yet.
Opening up are London grind/death/black metal hybrid bastards DripBack, who receive a warm reception. Frontman Wez4 – suspicions suggest that this isn't his real name – relishes the limelight, thrashing his body across the tiny stage like a tattooed Magikarp.
New tracks, such as Wasted and Victims from their debut album, 'Failed Futures', are a significant step up from their 'Inhaling The Ashes' EP, translating seamlessly into the murky environment of the Garage. Plus, their samples are proper gnarly. Random slurs and offensive cockney threats booming from the PA system? Yes please.
Hang The Bastard are up next, and they prove to be a completely different aural assault. Their doom-laden, Sabbath-esque riffs are absolutely killer and serve as a potent reminder as to why we're all here.
But, there is minimal rapport with the crowd and the crushing riffs and banshee wails create an uncomfortable distance between band and audience. Hang The Bastard are a stellar live band, but tonight their act just slightly misses the mark.
There are a lot of dicks in the music business. Windstein, though, isn't one of them. Right up until soundcheck, the bearded man mountain remains at the merch desk, taking innumerable pictures with fans and signing autographs.
Up on stage, Windstein is the same humble, gruff bloke from the merch desk. As he leads the band into the up-tempo bombast of Conquering, it's abundantly clear why he left Down to concentrate on Crowbar full time. A quarter of a century on, the precision with which they play is quite ridiculous. Music like this is seldom played with such accuracy.
Drummer Tommy Buckley is a complete beast behind the kit, switching from from down-tempo, murky doom to blasts of punk in a heartbeat and giving Crowbar an extra dose of life and vigour. With the setlist concentrating heavily on their last album, 'Sever The Wicked Hand', the band knows where their strengths lie. Like a fine wine - with hair mixed in it, naturally - the quartet have improved with age. With the promise of a new album, 'Symmetry In Black', around the corner, Windstein can rest easy having quit Down. He's doing just fine.
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