Louisiana Metal Scene

The heavy metal scene in New Orleans is more of a heavy rock culture with a hardcore punk beginning using major influences from the New York hardcore scene and the early D.C. hardcore scene with Bad Brains and Black Flag as the forefathers. This combined with the godfathers of heavy metal Black Sabbath, the bluesy-like doom inspired riffing of Tommy Inomi has been given further life by these bands today creating a new legion of followers with impressive and original ideas making for some of the heaviest music around.

First off a band that has been going at it for almost ten years is Crowbar. Formed in 1989 by guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein and drummer Jimmy Bower, Crowbar played some of the most slow-paced sludge music in New Orleans. In 1992, Obedience Through Suffering was released on a small indy label. At this time Craig Numenmacher replaced Bower on drums who left for a group called Eyehategod. Matt Thomas was also on guitar with Todd Strange on the bass to complete the lineup. This first album was seen as being underproduced by Crowbar yet it gave them a certain amount of recognition in the underground. The debut album was later re-released in 1995 on Pavement music.

In 1993 Crowbar released a self titled album with help from Phil Anselmo in production, this release gave them a huge following in the states and later in Europe. Although Crowbar never went below the 4th fret on the guitar in these songs, according to Ula Gehret (Metal Maniacs), Crowbar came up with some real memorable songs that couldn't be denied.

In 1994 Crowbar's success was shown by them touring with bands such as Morbid Angel, Paradise Lost, Type O Negative and Pantera. In 1995 their 3rd album Time Heals Nothing was released on Pavement again. Crowbar managed to throw in more hardcore faster songs while still continuing with their brand of over the top oppression. Just after this album, Jimmy Bower returned to Crowbar on drums replacing Numunmacher.

In 1996 Crowbar's 4th album Broken Glass was produced by Simon Efemy this time, the legendary Paradise Lost producer. This album was even more harder and miserable in sound, possibly their heaviest and most hostile album. Since then members of Crowbar have toured with the DOWN side project and guitarist Matt Thomas has produced some other bands in the area.

Currently in early 98, Crowbar is signed to Mayhem/Fierce records and is producing a new album with Keith Falgout at Festival Studios in New Orleans and has replaced guitarist Matt Thomas with Sammy Piere Duet of Acid Bath. (what a move)

Another band hailing from this land are Eyehategod. Though they are certainly not a diverse band, more likely a one dimensional act, they have derived a sound that is unmistakeably heavy and hateful which has been admired by many other musicians including Motorhead and C.O.C. Eyehategod actually had one demo released in 1988 called GardenDwarfWomanDriver.

Their first album In The Name Of Suffering was released on a french label in 1991 and later re-released in 93 on Century Media. Their sound has been described as very hateful and haunting and terms like Sabbath-core punk and punk rock blues have been used to identify them. In 1993 Take as Needed for Pain was released on C.M. Eyehategod continued on with their Sabbathy angry I dont care approach and their unique noise experiments which actually had the F.B.I. and church groups investigating these guys in their hometown for their deranged ways.

In 1996, their 3rd album Dopesick was released with assisted production from Pepper Keenan of C.O.C. Not much has been heard since then as string noise guitarist Jimmy Bower has returned to Crowbar and other members have played with Soilent Green out of New Orleans.

Showing an honest dedication to the whole New Orleans sound from blues rock to heavy metal are the supergroup DOWN. Consisting of Pepper Keenan of C.O.C. on guitars and Kirk Windstein and Todd Strange of Crowbar on guitar and bass, Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod/Crowbar on drums, and Phil Anselmo of Pantera on vocals.

Down released an album of songs in 1995 on Elektra records with production done by other Crowbar guitarist Matt Thomas. The idea being from Pepper Keenan before he even joined C.O.C. in 91 jammed with the rest of these guys off and on from 1990. Their goal was to make heavy rock songs inspired by the likes of doom rock masters Trouble, Obsessed, Pentagram and of course Black Sabbath. At first only 12 demo tapes were made in 92 and were spread out to people in the states and as far as Sweden. The very few people out there who knew of these songs wanted to hear more as Down banners were seen at shows of Pantera and C.O.C. . After all the legal issues were cleared up the album was allowed to be made and distributed worldwide. Currently Down are supposedly making a new album for 98 sometime.

Not as new to the scene as some people might think are Floodgate. Formed by vocalist/guitarist Kyle Thomas who was the longtime singer in Exhorder, a speed thrash metal band out of New Orleans in the 80's who were a recognized group in the thrash scene. Some of the new Floodgate material was written by Kyle while he was still in Exhorder but wasn't accepted by the rest of the group because of large musical differences.

Exhorder later was officially dead in the early 90's and in 1994 Floodgate under the name Penalty was comprised of brother Kevin Thomas on bass, Steve Fisher on guitar, and Neil Montgomery on drums. They made a demo tape that year and in 95 were signed to Roadrunner records. Their debut album was produced by Eli Ball but didn't get released until a year later in 1996 because of the legal problems of the band name Penalty. They changed their name to Floodgate and the album was called Penalty.

Floodgate carries on the Sabbath tradition in their overall sound but with much more aggression and at the same time melody is present as Floodgate create catchy rhythmic choruses with a heavy down tuned approach. They have their own personality as well with a similar heavy rock direction to C.O.C. and Down. Currently Floodgate have been dropped by Roadrunner records after only one album for unknown reasons so far.

Another new band from New Orleans with a heavy sound is Fall From Grace. Rising from the ashes of the now extinct Exhorder is guitarist Jay Ceravolo who was their longtime guitarist. Completed by Marc Hernandez on bass, Eric Stierwald on drums, and Wil Buras vocalist, Fall From Grace made a demo in 1995 and later in 96 their debut album was produced by Crowbar guitarist Matt Thomas who was involved with Down also. Their self titled album was released in 1997 on Mayhem/Fierce records and can be described as an aggressive metal album with influences of thrash mixed with the heavier moments of Black Sabbath not to mention the abundance of double bass which gives this band an edge. Fall From Grace are soon to be touring with Skrew and Skinlab in the states.

To sum up the diverse nature of the Louisiana metal scene from hardcore punk influences to Sabbath ressurections and thrash movements along the way, what better way to end this than with a band called Acid Bath. They may not be from the traditional New Orleans area, instead they are from a town called Galliano, southernmost point of the state covered in swamps with homes built on stilts to protect from crocodiles.

Acid Bath was formed in 1991 by Dax Riggs vocalist, Mike Sanchez and Sammy Duet on guitars, now deceased Audie Pitre bassist, and Jimmy Kyle on drums. They made a 10 song demo in a barn consisting of old Black Sabbath and Iron Butterfly songs. In 1994 they were to signed to Rotten records and Spike Cassidy of DRI produced their debut album When The Kite String Pops. A mixture of hardcore punk, psychedelic sound, thrash, goth even black metal was the case.

Dax was quoted as saying" this is a southern rock scene with a bit of malevolent punk" From the controversy of the J.Wayne Gacy serial killer artwork on the cover of the album, Acid Bath stepped up musically on that album and in the end of 1996 completed their second album Paegan Terrorism Tactics which again had controversial art work by Dr. Kevorkian on the cover. The album was produced by Keith Falgout producing everything from metal to blues to jazz. PTT was a slower album with a heavy Sabbath influence combined with the twisted deranged sound Acid Bath is known for. Simply stated, this album is one of a kind and still sends chills down my spine everytime its played.

The mind of Dax Riggs with his poetry lyrics is like nothing I've heard before and to tell you the truth its scary, Dave my friend had intense nightmares after he discovered Acid Bath and got into it. It seems now Acid Bath have split up as Sammy is now in Crowbar, but there have been rumours that Dax Riggs is working with him also.

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Page contents researched and contributed by Jim Hamilton. Page created by Tim Johnston.