Eyehategod are becoming like the bad guy in some slasher film franchise. Every time you think you’ve heard the last death rattle, another tune creeps from the grave to bludgeon/stab/strangle/gouge/hack to death any number of unwitting teens foolish enough to stray into their path. Not that I’m complaining, because this is another fucking stormer. Everything you could possibly want from an Eyehategod song is present and correct: enormous, sodden riffs, broken-throated screams, a queasy layer of feedback and this gloriously seasick guitar line that seems to lag a beat or two longer than it’s supposed to, seemingly goading you into throwing up your last meal. Lumbering and unpredictable like some mean, glowering drunk waiting for you in an unlit alleyway, Eyehategod were the bastard sons of all the drugs and all the scuffed, warped copies of the first three Sabbath albums in the world. Rank, vicious, rotten to the core and more than willing to drive something sharp into your neck and go through your pockets before your body has even hit the floor. Incredible.
Never been overly fond of Cripple Bastards, but with ‘Self-Zeroing’ they’ve slightly swayed the barometer needle away from the point on the dial marked “bollocks.” In reality this could just as well be three or four different songs strung together without pause, starting with ringing, dissonant guitars that call on Slayer’s ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ before hurtling into a manic, dual-vocalled grind attack, dashing the mayhem with some hardcore back-ups and some incredible drumming that sounds like they’ve drafted in the dude from Neurosis. Decent, but if you’re looking for something that’ll match the slurred magnificence of Eyehategod on the flip then you’re in the wrong place. However, the Bastards stand their ground, and after listening to the Eyehategod track on repeat ten or fifteen times they do a fair job of changing the pace and passing a brutal few minutes of their own.