Outlaw Order - Dragging Down the Enforcer Review
by Mark Hensch
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Outlaw Order's Dragging Down the Enforcer is one of the most underwhelming sludge albums from not only 2008 but any year. Given the talent involved – four fifths of the original Eyehategod lineup as well as a bassist who has served time in Goatwhore and Crowbar – this should be a winner. Instead, this demo album presented as a full-length delivers short blasts of largely unmemorable and insipid sludge.
Much of this blandness stems from the album's short length. In direct contrast to sludge's penchant for long, drawn-out anthems of grittiness and misanthropy, Enforcer swings with quick tunes which leave little impression on the listener. In the rare instance something in this morass of monotonous sludge starts sounding interesting, it ends before it can truly begin.
Such a problem is highly aggravating given the aforementioned muscle within the band and the fact that some songs do indeed have brief flickers of promise. "Relive the Crime" has a weird, pounding riff that I dig while "Double Barrel Solves Everything" reaches moments of High on Fire worthy gallops. "Mercy Shot," meanwhile, nails the head between raucous punk and leaden sludge perfectly.
Though the above tracks are worth mentioning, they provide amble evidence that a few decent ideas do not make a solid album. Most of Enforcer runs together, the low-end songs becoming nothing more than a muddy wall of insipid amp abuse. Even that might be decent if there was any real emotion or fury here, but I seemingly cannot find much. With this in mind, for a band named Outlaw Order there is not much rule breaking here. Dragging Down the Enforcer offers nothing that half-dedicated sludge fans have not heard done several times better before.
Outlaw Order's Dragging Down the Enforcer
Intro
Relive the Crime
Safety Off
Double Barrel Solves Everything
Alcohol Tobacco Firearms
Mercy Shot
Narco-Terroristos
Siege Mentality
Walking Papers
Dragging Down the Enforcer
Outro
CD Info and Links
Outlaw Order - Dragging Down the Enforcer Rating:5.0
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