In Praise of Negativity

EYEHATEGOD: SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT (Century Media Records). Deathcore. Sludge metal. Southern-fried grind. Perhaps you've got your own classification for the ghost city of New Orleans' hardest and heaviest band. This collection, comprised of cuts previously released on seven-inch vinyl plus outtakes captured during the recording of their epic Dopesick LP, may be my favorite EHG release. What it lacks in the metallic polish of their proper albums (In the Name of Suffering, Take as Needed for Pain, Dopesick, Confederacy of Ruined Lives--all classics) it more than makes up for in raw sonic aggression. Michael William's shredded-throat vocals sound harsher, more disassociated. “Blank/Shoplift,” first released on Take As Needed… and featured here in an alternate version recorded for Bovine Records, is pure punk malice, at its nastiest when it slows to a Dixieland dirge, ending in looped samples extolling suffering, music, and drugs. “Story of the Eye” and “Serving Time in the Middle of Nowhere” (both available on CD for the first time!) each perfectly represents what's magnificent about the band: the blues-drenched riffs, the wall of feedback, the slow, serpentine grooves, that satanic voice. It's difficult to imagine a more perfect distillation of everything dark and brutal about punk and metal music than this.