Coffin Joe
This is the second Superjoint Ritual album. SR was one of Phil Anselmo's many side-projects and the lineup was Phil Anselmo (vocals), Jim Bower (guitar), Kevin Bond (guitar), Hank Williams III (bas) & Joe Fazzio (drums). "A Lethal Dose of American Hatred" was released in 2003, and a year later the band would disband due mainly to a dispute between Anselmo & Fazzio.
The first album showed promise, but was too fragmented. It seemed like the band wanted it to go in too many directions, and it really suffered from some mediocre drumming from Fazzio.
Luckily the second effort from SR is far better than the first. SR offers an agressive experience, and even-though roots of groove-metal can be heard, SR is heavily influenced by punk & hardcore. The band manages to tie those different genres together in a brutal adrenalin rush, that should appeal to sludgehead and hardcore-fans alike. Overall the songwriting is more focused, and while the album still throws a lot of styles into the mix, this time round it doesn't seem so fragmented as on the first record.
SR mixes the groove-metal with, hardcore, punk, some thrash and a little bit of black metal (although not very significant). Creating an expression that, even-though it doesn't bring anything new to the table, results in an all-out blitz-assault on your ears. The superjoint of various styles works best in the shorter tracks - SR is build for speed! They throw so much aggression your way, it's hard not to go-about thrashing stuff - one of the reasons my GF banned this album from our house!
Oh... and Phils voice is fucking amazing! He runs total amok. It's like the Great Southern Trendkill on steroids!!
So if you're looking for some pure adrenaline infused sludge-metal - look no further - and remember to keep a sandbag within range for getting that build-up rage out!