Confessor

Always the doom metal bridesmaids, but never quite the brides, North Carolina’s Confessor released one album, 1991’s Condemned (on Earache, during that label’s heyday), one follow-up EP and then faded away. Although still a huge influence on some of the best metal bands of our generation, as liner notes from members of Nile, Carcass and Phil Anselmo suggest, the band’s incredibly leftfield mixture of Trouble-ish doom rock, slower sludge, wildly technical drumming, bizarre production sounds and the flailing vocals of screecher extraordinaire Scott Jeffreys turned a lot of people away. Now, following the unfortunate death of guitarist Ivan Colon in 2002, the band have been working on new material and Sour Times is a taster EP for their upcoming full-length. The two great new songs immediately show Jeffreys as way less frantic and high-pitched in his singing, which admittedly takes some of the fun away. But the wild drumming is here, the tormented doom and gloom of life once again wrapped up in a sonic stew that barely holds itself together. The EP also includes one demo from 1990 and a radio edit of the title track, as well as a video and other multimedia bonuses. Sour Times has potential for greatness written all over it, and hopefully will find Confessor finally getting the attention they deserve.