EyeHateGod ‎– A History Of Nomadic Behavior – VINYL LP + CD

Description

On A History of Nomadic Behavior, NOLA luminaires Eyehategod have lost none of the magic that defined the 90s ascendancy of seminal sludge metal artifacts such as Take as Needed for Pain (1993) and Dopesick (1996). While there may have been a seven-year gap between 2014’s eponymous effort and the group’s sixth full-length album, time appears to have only tempered the band’s iron will and steely resolve.

With the last three years spent on the road, touring relentlessly across four continents, A History of Nomadic Behavior pitches Eyehategod’s molten sludge into a world full of chaos, political turmoil, and pandemic-fuelled uncertainty. And when vocalist Mike Williams harnesses the raw, atavistic power of his voice, it becomes the perfect delivery mechanism for a scattershot mosaic of human misery.

On “The Outer Banks,” William’s peppers fragmentary phrases around lurching rhythms from bassist Gary Mader and drummer Aaron Hill, alongside off-kilter, stop-start riffs from axe-slinger Jimmy Bower: “Low rise grieving/ Selfish stagnant/ Culture falling/ Weeping horses/ Quicksand bombing/ Dereliction negative/ Dig ground zero/ Modern vultures/ Social failings/ Hurt their feelings/ Base defiler/ Penitentiary/ Cross negative.”

Lead single “High Risk Trigger” is quintessential Eyehategod, propelled by towering, molasses-thick riffs and quickfire tempo changes shot through with droning feedback and tribal drum passages. And for his part, Williams’ acerbic social commentary remains about as subtle as a sledgehammer: “Infection is the way/ Disruptive crowd takes aim/ Burn down the rail yard house/ Destroy the USA.”
Doom-laden hardcore ragers like “Three Black Eyes” and “Anemic Robotic” take the listener on a hallucinatory acid trip, splitting the difference between meandering desert drives and red-eyed bar brawls. Elsewhere, tracks like “Fake What’s Yours,” “The Trial of Johnny Cancer,” and the jazzy, instrumental freak-out of “Smoker’s Place” make the most of Bower’s hazy, blues-inflected leads, elements which sound perfectly natural given the band’s origins in the cultural melting pot of New Orleans.

To the album’s credit, the production on A History of Nomadic Behavior (courtesy of engineering, mixing, and mastering from Sanford Parker and James Whitten) walks the exceptionally fine line between polishing up the more distinct aspects of Eyehategod’s sonic profile—Williams’ atavistic snarl, Bower’s fuzzed-out Sabbathian riffage, Mader’s quaking bottom-end, Hill’s concussive blow—and letting the rest of the mix sink back into the murky embrace of filth and grime.

Those looking for new, distortion-heavy jams to sequence between Pantera and Down classics will certainly find a lot to love with the systematic bludgeoning of “Current Situation,” “Circle of Nerves,” and the blunt-force trauma of “The Day Felt Wrong.”

But, perhaps most fittingly, it’s album closer “Every Thing, Every Day” that’s the true distillation of the band’s caustic, bile-spitting essence, serving up a stiff middle finger to the reality of never-ending capitalist wage slavery and the sheer drudgery of modern existence: “Wake up at 5am/ Every day/ Every thing/ Kill your boss/ Wrong world/ Bitter point/ Wrecked world/ Damage done/ Eyes stare/ Never last/ Rested soul/ Never come back/ Kill your boss.”

newnoisemagazine.com