Sludge metal pioneers Eyehategod have used these globally trying times to record A History Of Nomadic Behavior, their sixth proper piece of misery laden blues and distortion. Not much has changed with the lineup and with their excellent eponymous album released seven years ago, the band has surely had enough time to hone in on the particular type of misanthropic art this time around.
Mike IX Williams and Jimmy Bower as usual form the classic core with pained vocals and a wonderfully tuned down guitar on “Fake What’s Yours,” which is designed to crawl along as the drums form the proverbial beatdown you receive throughout.
“Current Situation” feels like the band’s way of handling the world in 2021, a plodding pace eventually with a hardcore riff mixed between Mike IX’s shrieks of anguish, never getting the kind of release you would expect from classic tracks “$30 Bag” and “Dog’s Holy Life.” Instead, the listener is forced to continue to exist in between “what you need” and “what you get.” This is 2021 and that allegory makes far too much sense.
“High Risk Trigger” is as classic an EHG song can sound, the perfect combination of My War-era Black Flag constantly juxtaposed with Tony Iommi’s infamous guitar tone from Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4. If you know you know, but for newbies let that one sink in.
Always a volatile band, Eyehategod sound as fresh as ever in a time where a record of theirs feels particularly poignant and downright necessary. Having plied nihilism as their trade for over 30 years now, Mike IX and crew have plenty of stories to tell, usually of a cautionary and firsthand experience and A History Of Nomadic Behavior is just another chapter of a grimy existence that has yet to be snuffed out; one that will likely be added to continually before the band is truly done.
(released March 12, 2021 on Century Media Records)
