dan's jams - music reviews

After spinning through "Lifesblood For the Downtrodden" a few times, there is one overwhelming idea that comes to my mind....this would have been the perfect follow up album to Corrosion of Conformity's "Blind" album. And it's not so much that this album is derivative or based in someone else's ideas; "Blind" was a defining album for both COC and for this entire genre of Metal. Southern, slow, heavily blues influenced, slightly doomy. For me, being called a good follow-up to "Blind" is about the highest compliment you can pay an album in this category.

LFTD took hold of me with the video they released for "Dead Sun". Starting off with maybe the least "sludgy" riff on the album besides the opening of "Angels Wings", it descends into the most, with a ghostly screaming effect washing in and out of the chorus that is odd enough to stand out and interesting enough to actually work. The album is filled with inventive riffs and agile ideas which break up the staleness of the "sludgy" moniker: the bounciness of the initial "Slave No More" riff, the raucous thrash of the verses of "Angels Wings", the epic pull of "Coming Down".

COC still hasn't been able to manufacture an album as strong or captivating as "Blind", but Crowbar manages that and then some with LFTD. I wasn't convinced that the genre was really worth paying any more attention to until now. If you have ever liked any peice of this genre, run and get this now. If you haven't, this is a great modern place to start.