Eyehategod have seen more than their fare share of hardship. Their albums take on a life of their own, personifying what life is like in the lower middle class and working class neighborhoods of the various backwaters of forgotten America. The band's second album, the seminal Take As Needed For Pain, is the tortured soliloquy that all sludge bands could only aspire to approach. The new, self titled release from Eyehategod, their first new full-length album since 2000's Confederacy Of Ruined Lives, fits the mood perfectly. Dripping with down tuned sludge positively drenched in heavy riffs, Eyehategod features tortured howls from longtime vocalist Mike IX Williams, a variety of tempos, and serious songwriting chops emanating from the riffs and thundering bass delivered by guitarists Jimmy Bower, Brian Patton and bassist Gary Mader, respectively. Thankfully, LaCaze's original drum tracks have posthumously made it onto the completed album; a fine legacy, to be sure, as Eyehategod is classic Eyehategod.