A "comeback" album after a four-year recording hiatus and a rumored breakup, Confederacy of Ruined Lives finds Eyehategod returning to the same Southern doom metal style they have become infamous for over the years.

There are a few slight changes that distinguish this CD from their earlier efforts.

The production is cleaner than on their first two albums, while less dense and suffocating than on the previous Dopesick.

The songs are still based around Jimmy Bowers' and Brian Patton's patented bluesy, down-tuned swamp metal riffs and do contain their share of painfully slow moments, but there are (relatively speaking) a few more grooves and catchy moments than in the past.

There is also an especially noticeable Southern rock feel at points, as with the Allman Brothers-gone-metal breakdown on "99 Miles of Bad Road." Ultimately, though, this is the same Eyehategod: bitter, angry, hopeless, and alone.

Needless to say, they do not offer the sort of experience everyone looks for in a rock record.

At their best, however, Eyehategod offers up a sort of purifying negativity that is hard to find elsewhere, and Confederacy of Ruined Lives keeps that quality remaining strongly in effect even as it suggests the band may wind up seriously repeating themselves in the future.