Crowbar
Symmetry In Black

The favourite waterhole for the crows has opened for a new season and as usual we have a lot of musical entertainment on the schedule to please the thirsty crows. 'Symmetry In Black' is the tenth grand opening of the -bar at the 25 year marker for the favourite bar in New Orleans to all crows.

Crowbar plays heavy, slow and methodical. The band are one of those "classic" bands appearing after the thrash had lost its popularity, though time hasn't treated them as well as the Florida hall if fame and they've ended up in the shadow of the likes of bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. However, as slow and methodical as these guys pounds out their music, as continious has the members left the band. For this album there's once again been members leaving and joining and I guess this is one of the reasons why they've only released three albums these last 12 years, this one included.

Is it a good album then? Well, last time we waited six years for the album, this time it's only been half that time and fortunately the album hasn't half the quality of the last one. Unfortunately it hasn't half the issues either. In my opinion, Crowbar has a history of ending up somewhere between three and four on all their albums due to the same kind of dilemma every time. This album is no exception, while they seem to know their way around how to bash and beat the best out of their instruments the problem is that they can't seem to vary the sound enough to make a full length album interesting. Songs tend to sound pretty much the same after a while and all though a couple of tracks here at 'Symmetry In Black' are a bit quicker than the rest they still don't feel that different from the rest. The result is another cluttered album that ends up dull and tedious because it can't excite all the 49 minutes it lasts. As I said, this is the dilemma they've had always, when they can't vary the songs the album just feels more boring for every time you hear it and all though the albums are monotonous in different ways, the song writing inspiration seems to run short in the band and they always seem to end up writing all the songs when they're in one state of mind.

To me it seems the inspiration the had on 'Symmetry In Black' was to whine. The songs here all have a bitchy, nagging feel to them. Fuss with guitars, it seems. They do, however, have a certain feel of death 'n' roll to them - you know, the sound very typical for death metal from Stockholm, Sweden - only that they're far from as technical as the Swedes usually are. This is more of a slugger than a real boxer - or a vulture rather than a crow, if you like that parable better. Too bad persistence doesn't win this fight because as usual with this band the more you hear of these slow, repetitive guitar lines the more weary you get if it. I feel the album is going nowhere in no time and while the first third is pretty decent the constant repeat of same songs just makes the second and especially third part dreary and painful to hear. And that's too bad as the songs in them selves are pretty decent.

Unfortunately I feel this is more like a hammer than crowbar. They seem to bang that same nail over and over instead of bending up boards and explore what underneath. Too bad, there was potential here.

HHHHHHH