Crushingly brutal sludge band from New Orleans. They are pioneers of the genre, which is characterized by screaming walls of feedback, thunderous detuned guitars, throat-shredding howls, and a pace nearly equivalent to how long it takes for cliffs to erode.

Eyehatehod was founded in 1988 in New Orleans - the scene at that time consisted mostly of fast thrash bands like Exhorder and bands playing crossover. Eyehategod didn't conform to their surroundings - they played music that was slow, heavy, and painful. With influences from bands like Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, Black Flag, and The Melvins, they also added a healthy dose of Lynyrd Skynyrd and traditional delta blues. The result was slow, agonizing and heavy punk rock that was strangely southern.

Eyehategod has gone through numerous line-up changes - oddly the consistency is the way the liner notes creatively describe each members place in the band. See the lineup from "Confederacy of Ruined Lives":

Jim Bower - Paranoid Disorientation and Off-balance Motor Disturbance
Michael Williams - Agitated Depression and Ideopathic Psycho-Dissociative Phobia
Joe Lacaze - Perceptual Distortion and Anxious Neurotic Expansiveness
Danny Nick - Hostile Belligerence and Intropunitive Projection
Brian Patton -Catatonic Thought Impairment and Pathogenic Retardation

Vocalist Michael Williams has developed a unique style that's been imitated and copied by many other singers - a combination of immediately recognizable bloody snarl and surreal, stream of consciousness lyricism. His lyrics often examine unflinchingly the dregs of humanity, and are usually filled with allusions to misery, drug addiction, heartbreak, misogyny, and oppression. But rather than coming off whiny and self-absorbed, Eyehategod is infused with a bitter, vitriolic depression and hatred that is frightening and often painfully easy to relate to for many.

Eyehategod is definitely a love it or hate it affair. Some people (like myself) are enraptured by the pounding, fuzzed-out agony they are able to deliver, while others are immediately turned off by it. It's worth your time to look into though.

EYEHATEGOD DISCOGRAPHY (through 2002)

"In The Name of Suffering" full-length (1992, Century Media)
"Take As Needed For Pain" full-length (1993, Century Media)
"Dopesick" full-length (1996, Century Media)
"Ruptured Heart Theory" 7 inch EP (????, Bovine Records)
"Loud and Ugly" 7 inch EP (????, Bovine Records)
Split 7 inch with 13 (????, Slap-A-Ham Records)
Split 7 inch with Anal Cunt (????, Hydra Head Records)
"Southern Discomfort" full-length (2000, Century Media)
"Confederacy of Ruined Lives full-length (2000, Century Media)
"Ten Years of Abuse (and Still Broke)" full-length (2000, Century Media)
Numerous other compilation appearances, etc.