CROWBAR • Zero And Below (Galaxy Clear & Black Ice Vinyl) • LP

From the moment you hear them, you know it's Crowbar. Praised by Pitchfork, VICE, and Metal Hammer... Immortalized twice by MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head...
"The band is revered by the broken and the downtrodden - those who exorcise their demons with smoke-filled riffs of melancholic devastation. Crowbar is one of the bands that has had a far-reaching influence on multiple genres and has helped shape the blueprints of sludge metal" (Kerrang!).

Crowbar songs are raw emotional outpourings that, alongside their soulful vulnerability, exhibit unwavering determination and are reliably delivered with crushing intensity. "Zero and Below," which solidifies the band's dense catalog after exactly a dozen studio albums, is the most unforgiving and darkest Crowbar album since their 1998 milestone, "Odd Fellows Rest." Produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording and Production in Metairie, Louisiana, "Zero and Below" is an awe-inspiring old-school album that is balanced by a resonant melodicism that is remarkably mature. Songs like "Chemical Godz," "Bleeding from Every Hole," and "It's Always Worth the Gain" showcase what Crowbar does better than any other band: powerful, atmospheric, and crushingly heavy music. Crowbar, who recently celebrated their 30th anniversary, is led by one of heavy metal's most beloved figures, the riff overlord Kirk Windstein.

The twelfth album was recorded by Crowbar in a more traditional manner, with the band (now officially featuring bassist Shane Wesley) coming together to work out the new songs. Each of them contributed as songwriters before returning to the studio with Simoneaux to bring the ten crushing tracks of "Zero and Below" to life. On "Zero and Below," Crowbar once again unleashes their magical power. As Metal Hammer aptly put it, Crowbar exists "in a single genre."