Down - Over The Under

New Orleans sludge-doom-stoner quartet Down have enjoyed a massive cult following since their first, self-titled album, released in 1995. This was partly due to their supergroup status (Pantera singer Phil Anselmo is joined by members of Corrosion Of Conformity and Crowbar), but also because the album was a wondrous mixture of vast Southern grooves and Anselmo’s malevolent emoting. 2001’s A Bustle In Your Hedgerow was rather less impressive, but since Pantera’s tragic, sordid collapse in 2003, all eyes have been on Down’s third album. It’s been worth the wait: Over… is huge, from the wall-to-wall guitar layers via the mighty vocals and huge lyrical themes, to the crushing production. Inspired by Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans, and the murder of Anselmo’s sometime bandmate Dimebag Darrell, songs such as Three Suns & One Star rage violently within the riffs’ iron framework. Thankfully, there’s the occasional respite; it would be too much to take without gentle ambient tunes such as His Majesty The Desert. There’s commercial writing here, too (I Scream and Never Try are perfect rock TV fodder) but it doesn’t detract from the overall power, making this the must-have metal album of the year so far, alongside recent releases by Nile and Mayhem.