Crowbar

New Orleans metal band Crowbar originally comprised vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein, guitarist Matt Thomas, bassist Todd Strange, and drummer Craig Numenmacher. Once known as the Slugs, the band's slow, grinding, heavy sound has alternately been tagged sludge metal and sludgecore, and has drawn comparisons both vocally and musically to Pantera, the Melvins, and Tad. Debuting in 1992 with Obedience Through Suffering, they subsequently signed to Pavement Music and issued albums including 1993's Crowbar and 1995's Time Heals Nothing. Drummer Numenmacher subsequently left the band, and was temporarily replaced by Jimmy Bower, also the rhythm guitarist for kindred spirits Eyehategod. Bower also played drums in Down, a side project for Pantera's Phil Anselmo and Corrosion of Conformity's Pepper Keenan that also featured Crowbar's Windstein and Strange. Guitarist Sammy Pierre Duet, formerly of Acid Bath, joined up for 1996's Broken Glass following the departure of original guitarist Thomas. Bower elected to refocus on Eyehategod after playing on 1998's Odd Fellows Rest, and was replaced by drummer Sid Montz for 2000's Equilibrium. That association proved short-lived, however; original drummer Numenmacher rejoined later that year, around the same time that bassist Strange called it a career. Jeff Okoneski stepped in on bass, making his first appearance on 2001's Sonic Excess in its Purest Form. After another round of membership changes saw Duet, drummer Tony Costanza, and Okoneski leave the group in exchange for guitarist Steve Gibb, drummer Tommy Buckley, and bassist Pat Bruders, Crowbar returned in 2005 with Lifesblood for the Downtrodden. Six years later, the band released the ferocious Sever the Wicked Hand in 2011, and returned three years later with the more brooding Symmetry in Black in 2014.