NOLA Sludge Doubleshot: Crowbar and Down Both Announce New Albums

It’s been a year and a half since Down released Down IV: Part One — the first in four promised EPs under the Down IV umbrella — and three years since Crowbar dropped Sever the Wicked Hand. It’s high time for some new sludge from two of NOLAs greatest metal exports!

Today both bands announced within hours of each other that they’d be releasing new music this spring, as if Kirk Windstein caught word that his ex-bandmates were planning on releasing Down IV: Part Two and said “Hey, fuck you, I can do it too!” Of course that’s probably not what happened — these announcements take time to set up, and their alignment is most likely a happy little accident, as Bob Ross would say — but the timing sure is eery, eh?

In any case: Down’s announcement came via Phil Anselmo’s website, and it comes with a cover (above), release date (May 13, 2014) and tracklist (here). Crowbar’s announcement came via carrier pigeon direct to the MS Mansion and reveals that the album will be called Symmetry in Black and will be released on May 27th; the artwork hasn’t been released yet but there’s a new band photo (below). Down will be on the Road to the Golden Gods Tour with Black Label Society and The Devil You Know while Crowbar will be hitting the UK and Europe this spring.

What’s with the all the similarities? Is this some kind of NOLA sludge conspiracy, maaaan??? Not that we’re complaining.

Thanks: Stephen P.