New Orleans, Louisiana sludge metal pioneers Crowbar will release their long awaited new full-length, “Zero and Below”, on March 4th, 2022, via MNRK Heavy! In celebration, today the band is pleased to unveil the record’s artwork, tracklisting, and first single & video for “Chemical Godz”, now playing below.
Crowbar songs are unapologetic emotional outpourings, with a bare-knuckle resolve alongside its soul-searching vulnerability, reliably delivered with crushing heaviness. “Zero and Below”, which cements the band’s dense catalog exactly one dozen studio albums deep, is the most unforgivably doomy Crowbar record since their 1998 landmark effort, “Odd Fellows Rest”.
Produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording and Production in Metairie, Louisiana, “Zero and Below” is reverently old-school, counterbalanced by a resonant melodicism that’s stunningly mature. Songs like “Chemical Godz”, “Bleeding From Every Hole”, and “It’s Always Worth the Gain” demonstrate what Crowbar does better than any other band: powerful, evocative, and crushingly heavy music. Celebrating a recent 30th anniversary, Crowbar is led by one of the most beloved figures in heavy metal, riff overlord Kirk Windstein, whose menacing bellow and smooth drawl put resilient, unrepentant strength behind even the most somber odes to suffering.
Comments Windstein of first single “Chemical Godz”: “We are all so excited to release the song and video for ‘Chemical Godz!’ It’s been nearly two years since the album was completed. It was such a sad time for so many people going through the Covid-19 epidemic and we felt it wasn’t a good time to release any new material. Get ready because the heavy is coming! We hope y’all enjoy the song and video. Stay safe out there!”…
“Zero and Below” will be available on CD, LP, cassette, and digitally. Find preorders here.
Tracklist:
1. The Fear That Binds You
2. Her Evil is Sacred
3. Confess to Nothing
4. Chemical Godz
5. Denial of the Truth
6. Bleeding From Every Hole
7. It’s Always Worth the Gain
8. Crush Negativity
9. Reanimating a Lie
10. Zero and Below
In conjunction with the release of “Zero and Below”, Crowbar will join Sepultura and Sacred Reich for the North America Cuadra Tour 2022. Initially scheduled as a 2020 run, the journey kicks off March 4th and runs through April 9th. Additional support will be provided by Art Of Shock. All tickets previously purchased for the 2020 dates will be honored. See all confirmed dates below.
North American Tour Dates 2022:
3/04/2022 Ace Of Spades – Sacramento, CA
3/05/2022 The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT
3/06/2022 Oriental Theater – Denver, CO
3/08/2022 Wildwood – Iowa City, IA
3/09/2022 Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN
3/10/2022 Rave II – Milwaukee, WI
3/11/2022 Harpo’s – Detroit, MI
3/12/2022 The Forge – Joliet, IL
3/13/2022 Thunderbird Music Hall – Pittsburgh, PA
3/15/2022 Irving Plaza – New York, NY
3/16/2022 Opera House – Toronto, ON
3/17/2022 Corona Theater – Montreal, QC
3/18/2022 Big Night Live – Boston, MA
3/19/2022 Theatre Of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
3/20/2022 Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
3/21/2022 House Of Blues – Cleveland, OH
3/23/2022 Blind Tiger – Greensboro, NC
3/24/2022 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
3/25/2022 Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
3/26/2022 The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
3/28/2022 Southport Music Hall – New Orleans, LA
3/29/2022 Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
3/31/2022 Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
4/01/2022 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
4/02/2022 GMBG – Dallas, TX
4/03/2022 Rockhouse – El Paso, TX
4/05/2022 The Nile Theater – Phoenix, AZ
4/06/2022 House Of Blues – San Diego, CA
4/08/2022 Belasco Theater – Los Angeles, CA
4/09/2022 UC Theatre – Berkeley, CA
The moment you hear it, you know it’s Crowbar. Praised by Pitchfork, VICE, and Metal Hammer… Twice immortalized by MTV’s Beavis And Butt-Head… The group is worshipped by the heartbroken and downtrodden – those who exorcise their demons in smoke-covered riffs of mournful devastation. A genuine band’s band, with a wide-ranging influence across multiple genres, Crowbar “helped draw up the sludge metal blueprints” (Kerrang!).
“Obedience Thru Suffering” (1991) set the tone when the band emerged from the same fertile New Orleans ground responsible for several influential bands. Windstein’s childhood friend Philip Anselmo produced “Crowbar” (1993). With signature anthems “All I Had (I Gave)”, “Existence is Punishment” and “I Have Failed”, it was the soundtrack to a bleak depression with seemingly endless depths.
“Time Heals Nothing” (1995) arrived the same year as “NOLA”, the crushing debut from the supergroup Down featuring Windstein, Anselmo, Pepper Keenan (Corrosion Of Conformity), Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod), and then Crowbar bassist Todd Strange. Bower played drums on Crowbar’s next two studio albums: “Broken Glass” (1996) and “Odd Fellows Rest”. Equilibrium” (2000) arrived two years later, opening with the earth-scorching single “I Feel the Burning Sun”. “Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form” was named Best Metal Album of 2001 by De Metal Magazine. At least two of the album’s devastating tracks, “The Lasting Dose” and “To Build a Mountain” make regular setlist appearances.
“Down made Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow” (2002) before the emergence of Crowbar’s consistently killer “Lifesblood for the Downtrodden” (2005). Windstein released two well-received albums with Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta under the Kingdom Of Sorrow moniker before Crowbar returned with “Sever the Wicked Hand” (2011), released precisely six years after its predecessor. “The band’s ninth full-length is every bit the monster it should be and easily stands alongside their best work”, declared Kerrang!.“Sever… rolls forty years of metal and hard rock into a big joint and smokes it all”, wrote Alternative Press.
“Sever the Wicked Hand” also introduced guitarist Matt Brunson and drummer Tommy Buckley to the CCrowbar faithful. “Symmetry in Black” (2014) began a partnership with producer Duane Simoneaux. Rolling Stone named it one of the 20 Best Metal Albums Of 2014 and Pitchfork praised the album’s “chunky sludge riffs, thrash breaks, bluesy leads, and Windstein giving his inner demons room to frolic… Their status as genre forebearers shines through via Symmetry’s crunchy production”.
“The Serpent Only Lies” (2016) was similarly well-received, with a noticeable evolution in Crowbar’s worldview. “The theme of struggle still looms large in Crowbar’s work”, observed Rolling Stone. “But on the band’s new LP – “The Serpent Only Lies” – Windstein is singing from a place of resiliency rather than despair. In line with other strong recent Crowbar efforts, the album transcends any one heavy-rock subgenre, ranging from weighty post–Black Sabbath grooves to headlong Motörhead-style anthems [and] Crowbar’s own signature blend of towering riffage and mournful melody”.
In 2020, Crowbar’s wielder of the sludge sledgehammer and unmistakable earthmoving bellow indulged his mellower and more AOR-loving side with a debut solo album, “Dream in Motion”. The Dark Lord of the Southern Riff stretched his creative wings with new emotional depth and sonic texture that strengthened, rather than tarnished, the metal monolith’s career legacy. Windstein made the solo album between tours and holidays over two years. By contrast, Crowbar’s twelfth album was handled the more traditional way, with the band (now officially including bassist Shane Wesley) getting together to hammer out the new songs. Each of them contributed as songwriters before going back in the studio with Simoneaux to commit “Zero and Below”’s ten crushing tracks to history.
Crowbar works their heavy magic all over again on “Zero and Below”. As long-running European tastemaker publication Metal Hammer once astutely observed, Crowbar “exist in a genre of one”.
Line-up:
Kirk Windstein – Vocals/guitar
Matt Brunson – Guitar
Shane Wesley – Bass
Tommy Buckley – Drums
