Ah, a “scene.” That vague concept when our pattern-searching brains detect connectable musical activities happening within a short distance of each other. Sometimes it’s more of a perception bias than anything else, but there are undeniable movements over the course of our increasingly rich history of heavy metal and rock. From Bay Area thrash to Norwegian black metal, from Seattle grunge to Florida death metal—just to mention a few—without forgetting the less unanimous New Orleans sludge scene, only so because “sludge” has never been a much-loved description, especially by the bands themselves.
Regardless, it was an important clash of apparently incompatible genres that led to it, and at the forefront (at least artistically, since their enormously deserved recognition only came decades later) were Crowbar. Their self-titled second album, released on October 4, 1993 through Pavement Music—aside from containing some of their most beloved songs ever in “All I Had (I Gave),” “Self-Inflicted” and “Existence Is Punishment”—is an absolute landmark in how you could take doom, hardcore, classic heavy metal and hard rock, and come out on the other side with something so heavy and so unique that it proved pretty much impossible to categorize. It was compelling enough that even Beavis and Butt-Head couldn’t help but be impressed at the time, even if they thought that frontman Kirk Windstein looked like “an assistant football coach.”
The way it came together was much less glamorous than we might have imagined when we avidly first read the liner notes as kids. “Recorded at HT Recording Studios, Chalmette, LA” and “Produced by Philip Anselmo” did conjure up images slightly different from playing in a guy’s garage while Phil shot you dirty looks if he wasn’t into something. But that’s how Windstein—the band’s constant leader—alongside the iconic lineup of Matt Thomas, Todd Strange and Craig Nunenmacher, erected this towering monument to punishingly slow, unbearable emotional and sonic heaviness.
Need more classic Crowbar? To read the entire seven-page story, featuring interviews with the members who performed on Crowbar, purchase the print issue from our store, or digitally via our app for iPhone/iPad or Android.
