EYEHATEGOD — In The Name Of Suffering (review)

EYEHATEGOD — In The Name Of Suffering album cover

Album · 1992 · Sludge Metal

4/5 · 2019-01-03
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Sludge metal is one of those shapeshifting sub-genres that has been quite prolific in frolicking with everything from grindcore (Soilent Green) and crust punk (Dystopia) to stoner metal (Melvins, Bongzilla) and progressive rock (Mastodon, Intronaut) however in the beginning the fledgling metal style actually resembled the doom metal template from which it was derived. EYEHATEGOD was one of the forerunners of the scene which incorporated the doomy guitar riffs of classic Black Sabbath, the more updated doom diversity of Saint Vitus, the indie extreme motifs of Celtic Frost and the healthy punk infused errant attitude of hardcore bands like Discharge, Black Flag and other crust punk. The Melvins who proved to be a middle ground between the doom and sludge worlds also provided plenty of inspiration.

EYEHATEGOD emerged out of New Orleans, Louisiana on April 20, 1988 (420 man!) by guitarist Jimmy Bower and vocalist Mike Williams and soon recruited drummer Joey LaCaze. All three would remain permanent members until the band’s most recent album released in 2014. After a few lineup changes and the recruitment of Steve Dale on bass and Mark Schulz as second guitarist, EYEHATEGOD recorded their debut album IN THE NAME OF SUFFERING after the two demos “Dwarf Woman Driver” and “Lack Of Almost Everything.” Although these guys didn’t really take their style too seriously as it was merely a reaction to the musical scene of the era (think glam metal ruling the world) it nevertheless caught the attention of the small French label Intellectual Convulsion which released no more than 2000 LPs and CDs and soon went bankrupt. After signing to Century Media, this debut album found a second life and was re-released in 1992 with different artwork.

As with all cases of metal history, sludge metal took various elements of established bands and made them more extreme. EYEHATEGOD excelled at cranking out the plodding down-tuned guitar riffs that alternate with hardcore punk fueled quickened outbursts but most of all IN THE NAME OF SUFFERING debuts a healthy dose of feedback fuzz that would be taken even further with drone metal bands like Boris. This album is dripping in heavy psych laced distortion with every riff reverberating to high heaven accompanied by crazy squealing pitches that would make Jimi Hendrix have an orgasm. While doom metal plods along, this new sludge break away republic alternates between doom, hardcore and crust punk and even some death metal moments. Plodding riffs can spontaneously burst into freeform quickened frenzies and the squealing feedback outbursts can sound like a nest of horny birds on acid chirping to the gods for an infinite feast of juicy worms.

The best thing about IN THE NAME OF SUFFERING is that it sounds like that raw and unpolished underground metal that all the filth worshippers crave. While the Sabbath riffs are quite apparent, the overall compositions are quite varied in how they meander through different tempos, riff changes and of course there’s those feedback squeals! With an emphasis on cannabis culture, it’s not wonder a whole new strain of stoner metal evolved from this early sludge template as it totally sounds like it could take the next step into Sleep or Electric Wizard territory. While sludge metal has gotten increasingly sophisticated over the years with atmospheric progressive bands like Intronaut and The Ocean totally upgrading the sub, these early years of unadulterated sludgery are quite satisfying and no album quite hits the spot like EYEHATEGOD’s bass heavy sludge-fest IN THE NAME OF SUFFERING with angry screamed vocals struggling to be heard over the overweening guitar distortion and sparse drumming style that would become synonymous with this style of metal.