On November 5th, I was in Houston at Warehouse Live in Midtown to see Crowbar’s headliner tour. One of my favorite bands for their consistent emotional style of New Orleans sludge metal, I had been listening to Crowbar consistently for a few months and knew I had to fly out to see them as well as the openers on this show.
Morbid Visionz opened up the election day Metal jam in Houston. The bill for this show was a Mega-show collaboration between the Cavalera brothers of Sepultura fame’s current band Soulfly and the New Orleans legends Crowbar. The collaboration allowed for smaller metal bands like Morbid Visionz to shine. Hailing from Little Rock, AR, Morbid Visionz delivered a brutal style of slow, sludgey death metal that fit right on their record label Maggot Stomp. They only have one demo and a 4-track EP released so it was cool to see a band that was newer able to share the stage with some absolute legends. Songs like “Bloodscape” and “Dismal Harvest” trudge through these brutal landscapes.
From Cleveland, OH, Mutilation Barbecue performed next with an absolutely brutal mix of slam-style and death metal. They are on the same label as Morbid Visionz, Maggot Stomp, but are currently on Eyehategod/Soulfly’s touring package. Mutilation Barbecue’s fantastic album Amalgamations of Gore dropped in March of this year. Tracks like “Hive Mind Homicide,” “Trampled Under 18 Wheels,” and “Spontaneous Human Combustion” deliver insane death metal inspired by the likes of Mortician and 200 Stab Wounds. They performed the riffs live with such precision and attack that they really stood out, even on a stacked bill. The band also recently had gear and merch stolen from their trailer so touring spots like this help them as they recover from that loss.
Eyehategod has been consistent in the legacy-building of their unique style of New Orleans sludge metal. Led by Mike Williams, EHG is a fantastic combination of sludge riffs delivered by guitarist Jimmy Bower and Mike’s screechy and catchy mid-range vocal attack. Their 1990 debut album, In the Name of Suffering, is an incredibly dark and sludgey piece of music that set the tone for their incredible career. 1993’s Take as Needed For Pain tends to be referred to as their magnum opus, providing an hour of mid-range sludge attack at their highest level. EHG’s modern set is career-ranging as they deliver tracks like “High Risk Trigger” off of their 2016 album while also delivering tracks like “30$ Bag” and “Shoplift” from Take as Needed. Jimmy Bower’s live guitar performance creates a sludge from the Gibson Les Paul that harkens Black Sabbath from further depths of hell. Mike Williams live performance also stands out as he has evidently been touring for most of his life but he still delivers every vocal performance with an energy second to none in the sludge world.
Crowbar’s music transcends generations and has been on a resurgence with younger audiences lately. Hardcore podcasters Bo Lueders and Colin Young recently dubbed them as the “Heaviest Band of All Time” and seeing them perform live makes it clear why. Helmed by the incredibly versatile and talented Kirk Windstein, Crowbar delivers a lyrical, emotional, but brutally heavy style of New Orleans sludge. Crowbar dropped their debut Obedience Thru Suffering in 1992 and their most recent album Zero and Below in 2022, maintaining a standard of immense quality in between and throughout their entire career. Their discography highlights include 1998’s Odd Fellow’s Rest and 2001’s Sonic Excess in its Purest Form. The evident amount of soul Kirk Windstein puts into every song he writes makes Crowbar stand out as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Crowbar’s lyricism has always been deeply emotional, exploring themes of self-improvement through suffering, which makes them popular with the ethos of hardcore sharing a similar value of self-improvement. Kirk Windstein puts emotion into his music in his riffage and lyricism without a shred of fear and that makes Crowbar on another level when it comes to Metal music. This headliner set was nothing different as Kirk and crew came out swinging with “Planets Collide” as the second song on the setlist. Arguably one of the best metal songs ever written, “Planets Collide” shows Kirk’s songwriting ability at its highest quality with some incredibly heavy and brutal riffs. On Stage, Kirk is putting everything he has into every song even this late into his career, showing no sign of slowing any time soon. The guitar rig featuring the Neural DSP into the 5150 cabinet perfectly fit the riffs Kirk blasted. The set also featured incredible songs like “Like Broken Glass,” “To Build a Mountain,” and “Cemetery Angels.” The latter gets a moment of reprieve when Kirk says “Now this is a real breakdown” before going into what is likely the greatest breakdown ever written.
The crowd in Houston was geared up for this show, moshing and singing along to every song. Crowbar’s music has an ability to resonate with listeners unlike many other metal bands solely due to how personal a lot of the music is to Kirk and the band. Crowbar wears their heart on their sleeve without fear, which many metalheads find motivational. Catching Crowbar’s tour opener in Houston was a great experience. The band transcends generation and genre and their resurgence into a new generation will continue with force.