Eyehategod

The brand of New Orleans sludge-metal blues of which Eyehategod came to be identified as inventors shows up here on their first album for Century Media, but the band's hardcore roots -- far more evident than on later releases -- dilute the proceedings a bit. That's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just that Mike Williams' vocals are not quite as unhinged (he only sounds half-crazy) and guitar god Jim Bower's genius for torpid, endless boogie is clearly in its formative stages. Still, "Depress" and "Shinobi" point toward the inconceivably heavy things to come.