Down - A Bustle In Your Hedgerow Review
Posted by Evocator Manes on 09.16.2002
Led Zeppelin trips and stumbles over Black Sabbath in a minor sonic mess.
After Pantera’s seminal Far Beyond Driven release – which established the “Pantera” sound and enabled them to phone in two subsequent albums cataloguing that sound – lead vocalist Philip Anselmo created a side project, the first of many to come, with members of Corrosion of Conformity, Eyehategod and Crowbar, calling themselves Down. From the first opening strains of the lead-off song on the disc, Temptation’s Wings, it was obvious that the disc was a force to be reckoned with, exceeding even the high anticipation for such a stellar lineup. Down became a supergroup that actually delivered in accordance with the hype heaped on such a grouping.
Fast forward about 10 years and Anselmo has been involved with “side” projects that nearly exceed the total of releases with his primary band, Pantera. From Viking Crown to Superjoint Ritual (reviewed elsewhere here), Anselmo has been on a tear that has nothing to do with Pantera, though the bass-player Rex from Pantera also appears on the second album from Down, which was even more heavily anticipated than the first Down album, with good reason. The first Down album stood on it’s own next to Pantera, different but equally as excellent. If it seems that I am spending a lot of time on the first Down album, other bands and albums other than this one, there is also a good reason for that. Down II does not inspire such discussion.
Like the first Down record, Down II is fueled by drugs and Southern tinges, combined heavily with Black Sabbath, slowed down and poured into the heaviest version of stoner rock available. The liner notes state that the album was written and recorded during a 28 day period in a sea of inebriation at Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. The brevity shows. The production is raw and at times, muffled, resulting in inconsistent results. For some songs, the vibe works, for others.... All in all, it is a very unequal album.
Part of the fun of listening to any project with Anselmo is trying to figure out how the guy can talk, let alone continually shred his voice in that manner on such a regular basis. On this disc, he demonstrates that when so moved, he actually can sing to boot. Of course, one would have to assume that he prefers screaming, the big difference here being that on songs such as Ghosts Along The Mississippi and Beautifully Depressed, two of the better tracks on the disc, that the songs work better sung than shrieked.
The album is mired in moodiness, first noticeable on the picture of the swamp screened onto the front of the disc itself. Fans of Anselmo and the first Down album and stoner rock in general will probably dig the album more than everyone else who will likely come away much less than impressed. The first Down had quite a few standout tracks, some of which got up and flat-outed rocked your ass, willing or no. This disc has none. Basically, it’s not that the album is bad, it’s just not that good. Pick it up used somewhere. Moderate recommendation.
