NOLA (Elektra)
by Scott Hefflon
New Orleans groove, Sabbath-influenced megaband. Sound tasty? Surprisingly, it is. I smelled label money, psycho deathneck-loving mediocrity on this one – but I was pretty wrong. When you’ve got Phil Anselmo of Pantera on vocals/guitar, Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity on guitar, Kirk Windstein of Crowbar on guitar, Todd Strange of Crowbar on bass, and Jimmy Bower of EyeHateGod on drums, the band could completely suck (e.g., do nothing ground-breaking whatsoever) and the suburban metal kids would still lap it up like a Budweiser slushee.
To fully understand Down, or at least how and why NOLA came to exist, you must first read Pepper’s bio/mission statement. The man explains the shuffle, the chunkiness, and the thoroughly inebriated state of consciousness that makes this album much more than a chart-climbing metal album. This sucker’s got a vibe, dig?