Although summer is typically a celebratory season for most folks, by the time the dog days of August roll around, even the most ardent warm-weather enthusiasts might admit the persistent heat can get at least mildly annoying at this point. In fact, it can feel outright oppressive, especially down in New Orleans, where the humidity is so thick you practically have to swim through it to get from point A to point B. Perhaps it’s the intensity of that unrelenting heat that helped spawn the birth of N.O.L.A. sludge, a distinctive brand of metal that sounds as heavy, swampy, and vicious as the climate it originated from. And when it comes to the most vicious band of that lot, you’d be hard-pressed to top one of the chief originators of the scene, the legendary Eyehategod.
Their sound can best be described as filthy blues on steroids, drowning in a feedback-drenched stew of Southern Comfort and dirty needles. It’s not pretty by any means, but it is very real, a reflection of the harsh, drug-addled, impoverished reality that characterizes the dark underbelly of the deep South. Some people choose to look away at unpleasant things, but Eyehategod chooses to look directly into the depraved aspects of their environment and relay their disgust with it, which is what makes their music so compelling. A case in point is this fittingly nasty performance from way back in 1996. Feel the pain:
