''Sever the Wicked Hand'' is the ninth studio album by American

sludge metal Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilis ...

band Crowbar. It was released on February 8, 2011 through

E1 Music MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch"), formerly known as Koch Records and Entertainment One (eOne) Music/Records, is an American independent record label and music management company based in New York City. It was formed in 1987 as a music div ...

, on February 14, 2011 through

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A ...

in the UK, and a day later for the rest of Europe.Crowbar: New Album Track Listing, Audio Samples Available
blabbermouth.net. November 23, 2010. Retrieved on April 18, 2011. It was the band's first studio album after '' Lifesblood for the Downtrodden'', released exactly six years before in 2005.

Background

''Sever the Wicked Hand'' was the first album that frontman

Kirk Windstein Kirk Michael Windstein (born April 14, 1965) is an American musician. He is the frontman, vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and sole constant member of the sludge metal band Crowbar. He is also a founding member of the heavy metal supergroup Dow ...

recorded sober.

Critical reception

According to

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the album received "generally favorable" reviews and a score of 79. Writing for

Popmatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

, Adrien Begrand praised Crowbar for ensuring that its ninth album "sound so fresh while sounding so comfortably familiar at the same time", and gave particular accolades to

's vocals on "Let Me Mourn", the emotional intensity of "Echo an Eternity", and the soulful closing track, "Symbiosis". Situating the album in the context of Windstein's recent recovery from alcoholism, Eduardo Rivadavia wrote for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

that, while there are "no great revelations or revolutions" on ''Sever the Wicked Hand'', Windstein's "spirit and inspiration have clearly been revitalized, and the end results amount to a quintessential Crowbar album" among the strongest of the band's career.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar *Matt Brunson – guitar * Pat Bruders – bass *Tommy Buckley – drums

Guest musicians

*Patrick Plata – vocals on "A Farewell to Misery" *Duane Simoneaux – piano on "A Farewell to Misery"

Production

*Kirk Windstein – production *

Zeuss Christopher Harris (born April 1, 1972), known professionally as Chris "Zeuss" Harris or simply Zeuss, is an American record producer. Biography Zeuss is best known in the worlds of hard rock, heavy metal music, hardcore punk, and metalcore. H ...

– mixing and mastering *Duane Simoneaux – engineering *Thomas De Ville – engineering * Mike D'Antonio – art

References

{{Authority control Crowbar (American band) albums 2011 albums E1 Music albums