After a decade of metal where speed and fury were emphasized, Crowbar stepped into the '90s with a sound directly reacting to those ideas.
Equally influenced by the robotic approach of Helmet, the razor sharp riffing of Exhorder, and the brutally slow pacing of Melvins, Obedience Thru Suffering shows a band who is not afraid to stand out with a bizarre mix of influences.
The production is the roughest part of the album, robbing the riffs of their punch, bringing the bass too high into the mix, and attempting to pass the band off as a Tad-esque grunge group.
But the songwriting overcomes many of the weaker moments, as tracks like "Subversion" unveil a warped take on the Sabbath sound that would later gain the nickname sludge metal.
The incredible roar of Kirk Windstein doesn't hurt matters any, as his brutal vocals are one of the key elements to the record.
They would follow this up with a more impressive effort and continue a successful career into the decade, but this is where the group introduced the first true recording of the Louisiana sound.
Fans will want to hunt this down, and any follower of Louisiana metal would do themselves a favor by giving this a listen -- it is one of the key releases in the formation of that scene.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waiting in Silence | Crowbar | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 2 | I Despise | Crowbar | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 3 | A Breed Apart | Crowbar | Play | 05:36 | 12 MB | 38 MB |
| 4 | Obedience Thru Suffering | Crowbar | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 5 | Vacuum | Crowbar | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 6 | 4 Walls | Crowbar | Play | 04:43 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 7 | Subversion | Crowbar | Play | 03:11 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | Feeding Fear | Crowbar | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 9 | My Agony | Crowbar | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 10 | The Innocent | Crowbar | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 43 mins | 99 MB | |||||
| 43 mins | 302 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blaze Barton | Mastering |
| 2 | Bob Blom | Engineer, Mixing |
| 3 | Michael Brandvold | Layout Design |
| 4 | Crowbar | Engineer, Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 5 | Lenny Moore | Producer |
| 6 | Mark Nawara | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 7 | Mitch Nawara | Artwork |
| 8 | Kevin Nonnan | Guitar |
| 9 | Craig Nunemacher | Drums |
| 10 | Lenny Richier | Engineer |
| 11 | Todd Strange | Bass |
| 12 | Kirk Windstein | Guitar, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |