Now I love Down - their first album was an almost life changing slab of stoner metal for me. The happy accident of friends in a jam room worshiping at the temple of Sabbath with a side order of hardcore was just simply awesome. Anselmo was one of my favourite metal vocalists of the time and call me a big girls blouse, but I love Phil's singing voice. When he was blowing his voice out for what turned into The Redneck Hate Anthem Project (Superjoint Ritual for those who see no issue with 'A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred's lyrical content) I longed for the lush melodies of Pantera or the smokey witching hour tracks of Down.
Fast forward to 2012 and the New Orleans supergroup embarked on the first of a string of EPs which would allow them to release and tour more.
So what's the problem?
Well over the course of these interviews, when asked why didn't they put out an album, Anselmo has said it's because they are lazy. It takes too long and too much effort for the band to write and record an entire album, they can't concentrate long enough, they get bored.
Well listening to the new EP I would have to agree with them being lazy...
It's six songs, this one is the St Vitus/Sabbath doom flavoured EP... and I find it phoned in. I think it's a little dull. It's almost stock.
Maybe over the course of the run of EPs - next one next year boys, clocks ticking - and they introduce more flavour, more variety the body of work will make more sense, because at the moment it's like they went and recorded six Down template like songs - Anselmo's singing sounds lazy and unremarkable so it will be interesting to contrast this to his up coming solo album.
Pepper and Kirk's riff sound solid, but not remarkable, a shame because Crowbar's last album was jaw droppingly good and much as it's nice to see Animosity era CoC doing well, my heart lies with Pepper behind the mic. Even Jimmy Bowyer's Eyehategod sound refresh and invigorating.
So why not Down?
I guess everyone drops the ball from time to time and at least (in theory) it won't be long before we get new material to agonise over, but this time, Witchtripper and Open Coffins aside Down have left me shrugging my shoulders.
So from the unity of several bands members to the reunion of a true supergroup.
Soundgarden carved themselves a huge piece of the landscape back in the nineties before the wheels fell off.
Badmotorfinger, Superunknown and Down On The Upside were huge releases in my formative years, not to mention the rest of their back catalogue and I genuinely felt I missed out when they split without me witnessing them live.
Whilst they were gone, Cornell released a few solo albums - Morning Euphoria was good, the one with the cover of Billie Jean, not so much and as for the musical misfire with Timberland...
He also fronted former machine raging instrument merchants Audioslave for one incredible and then two dull albums.
Almost last to join the grunge reunion party Soundgarden took their sweet time and this year I finally got to witness them at Download and... well they were boring.
Awful actually, they looked disinterested and played seemingly bereft of passion. I wasn't alone in this and it was almost echoed later when they appeared on Goofy Piano Genius Jools Holland's show to perform some of the songs from the new album and the feedback was not good.
Shit, in fact was one comment from someone who I respect a fair bit for their musical opinion.
As for the comeback album King Animal.
Well it's boring.
It's just weak - the first half is okay, but cannot hold a candle to earlier work and the second half is as boring and as bloated as some of Cornell's solo indulgences.
It was incredibly disappointing, two listens and I gave it back.
I set the mpfree.
Now I do appreciate that this is not going to be a view shared by everyone, I know several people who hold one or the other (sometimes both) albums in high regard and I have seen plenty of favourable reviews for both in the mainstream press.
However I have also seen enough negative reviews from more independent places to know that I am not alone.
2012 has been a poor year for Metal in general. I'll get to a top ten this year for good, bad and what I like to call ugly albums, but that is because I have listened to so much more music. What has struck me is that for the most part is how forgettable much of it is in the mainstream of late - the Metal Hammer top 20 actually reflects this as, with a few notable exceptions, the critics choices are hardly what you would class as chart bothering acts.
Maybe this is a good thing... however the trickledown effect for the rest of the scene will suffer and frankly it won't be those bands getting festival slots next summer... it'll be the ones producing the same old shit.
The demise of Roadrunner, sorry restructuring, at the hands of WMG is not going to help this.
With the original trio of Wessels, Conner and Jonas Nachsin all resigning this year and the first two jumping ship to set up Nuclear Blast UK you can only hope that Metal is going to have to go back underground to survive once again.
Sure Maiden, Metallica, Korn, Slipknot etc will continue to dominate headlines and festivals, but the drop off after that is massive and with every new band seemingly sounding like a rottweiler gargling it's own balls whilst a thrash band falls down the stairs behind it, you kinda have to wonder where have all the song writers gone?
The ones who haven't just reformed for the payday.
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