Live Review: Crowbar, Tuskar and Swamp Coffin | Corporation, Sheffield | 31/03/2023
New Orleans' finest sludge metal exports Crowbar arrive for a night of celebration and riff-worship and with young UK standouts Tuskar and Swamp Coffin in tow, Sheffield is braced for down-tuned bedlam.
Swamp Coffin
Prior to tonight’s show, Swamp Coffin had announced their inclusion as the opening act on social media with a post that stated that Crowbar are the reason they ‘got into playing this down-tuned filth’ and it is clear just how much tonight is going to mean to this trio of Rotherham based sludge maestros.
Opening with the pummelling ‘Welcome To Rot’ from 2021’s Noose Almighty, the sparse crowd are urged to move forward as the lurching intro builds into vocalist Jon Rhodes’ first guttural barks of the evening. It may be early on, but the sound is already outstanding. Every riff, bass rumble and percussive beat ploughs into the audience as the set opener meanders through grimy chugs, ambient sections and even an Alice In Chains-esque solo, all the while being punctuated by hellacious bellows.
A 30 minute set time means that only three tracks receive an airing, with an audience request for more being humorously answered with ‘this one is 12 minutes long, you ungrateful fucker!’ as the band launch into the hilariously titled ‘Last of The Summer Slime’. It has been clear all evening that Swamp Coffin have a bloody good sense of humour and this is never more evident than when a command for ‘the world’s slowest wall of death’ is given. The final few minutes of the set sees the frontman tune his guitar down lower and lower, in a move that gives new meaning to the old phrase ‘bring back the riff but slower’ and proves just how bastard heavy these lads are, which is pretty appropriate for a band who call their fans the ‘Bastard Club.’
Score: 8/10
Tuskar
As fog slowly envelops the venue, Church Road Records standouts Tuskar take to the stage and begin their set with the menacing intro to the title track from their 2022 album Matriarch. Drenched in distortion and feedback, every single pluck from guitarist Tom Dimmock rings around the room like a gunshot before drummer and vocalist Tyler Hodges bursts into life, howling as if his life depends on it. Even at this early point in the set, the intensity is extreme but the crowd are transfixed by the esoteric post-doom duo and must all surely be pondering the same question: how on earth are this band just a two piece? What follows is the thumping, Mastodon inspired ‘To The Sky’, with its spidery riff rattling along at breakneck speed before closing out with thunderous double kick bursts. You want slow? Tuskar have got you. You want fast? Tuskar have got you too.
The duo continue to tear through their material with the force of a band with three times as many members and after a brief tussle with equipment to regain the momentarily lost sound, the venue is informed by drummer Hodges that the next song is going to be the ‘last chance to dance’ as the battering ‘Grave’ closes out the set in sublime fashion, gradually reducing in pace until the duo leave the stage in a wash of feedback and static.
Score: 8/10
Crowbar
It isn’t too often that a genuinely genre-defining band rolls through South Yorkshire but tonight is the exception. ‘Legend’ is a term that gets thrown around far too loosely in the modern world but, again, tonight is the exception. Is there any other band more synonymous with sludge than New Orleans legends Crowbar?
Taking to the stage to a deafening roar from a now packed-out Corp, iconic frontman Kirk Windstein (glorious beard and all) greets the crowd and mentions how the band are going to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their beloved self-titled second album by playing a set that leans heavily on material from that era. Judging by a second consecutive roar, what is about to follow will go down very, very nicely with those in attendance.
True to his word, the frontman tears into the head-banging ‘Self-Inflicted’ from said self-titled album and its opening bellows of ‘I’ll never lose the scars you gave…’ highlight already just how powerful and impressive Windstein’s voice remains after so many years in the game. The self-titled album love continues with the inclusion of the crushing ‘High Rate Extinction’ before a first airing this evening for material from the bands most recent record (2022’s Zero and Below) arrives in the form of the grooving and bouncing ‘Chemical Godz’ and pacey ‘Bleeding From Every Hole’. Both tracks are received fantastically and ready evidence that all these decades later, Crowbar are still capable of writing songs that stand toe-to-toe with their most seasoned material. Speaking of which, more 1993 classics are served up in the form of ‘Fixation’ and ‘Existence’ before the NOLA crew’s iconic frontman takes a moment to address the room. Having cut a humble and grateful figure all evening, saluting and beaming at the crowd at every opportunity, everyone’s favourite sludgy uncle’s genuine appreciation is clear to see as he seems genuinely taken aback by how much love has been sent he and his bandmates way this evening.
The biggest outpouring of love, however, is reserved for material from 1998’s monolithic Odd Fellows Rest, with bona-fide sludge anthems ‘To Carry The Load’ and ‘Planets Collide’ seeing a swell in mosh-pit participation and, especially in the case of the latter’s closing sections, impassioned singalongs. Things are brought to a close with 1996’s throbbing ‘Like Broken Glass’ and an explosive cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘No Quarter’ and, despite their often crawling pace, 75 or so minutes have flown by and there can be no doubt that there really is no band more synonymous with sludge than the great Crowbar.
Score: 9/10