NOLA 1995 Album

Down

Among 90’s metal fans, Down was minor legend before they stepped into a recording studio, having traded demo tapes through word-of-mouth for a period of time – much like the NWOBHM groups used to do – before they unleashed NOLA, a lurking, woolly mammoth beast of a disc, whose very reputation rivaled that of Anselmo’s main gig, Pantera. The template for these guys is Black Sabbath circa Master of Reality or Vol. 4, with big and heavy songs about drugs and other related things crossing paths with some weird skeletal balladry that sounds all spacey or something similar – like “Jail”. They aren’t flashy like Pantera, but much keener on building up real drama and tension, especially on tracks like “Eyes of the South” and “Rehab”. But it’s not all super heavy, either – “Stone the Crow” was the lone single, and is more like normal Southern/Classic rock except for a really brief breakdown at the end of the tune. Overall quite the curious release, and people thought it would be a one-off, which turned out not to be the case.