Stressball - 1994 - Stressball

 

1994 - Stressball

Where has this been all those years... - 87%

Written by RlyehLiberationFront on April 29th, 2009

So, I'd never heard of this band, but happened across it at a used CD store, and with the price being less than .75 cents, the label being one that I've had other releases from, and the cover artwork being fairly strange I thought, eh, fuck it, I'm going to pick this up. I'm glad I did.

The first thought that ran through my mind was "Holy shit, it's like Godflesh playing NOLA sludge". While I still get this impression sometimes, the album stands on it's own without the namedropping as well.

So, back to my initial Godflesh / NOLA sludge comment. This definitely has a early 90's southern sludge feel to it, the riffs are certainly influenced by Eyehategod, Crowbar, Down, etc. The vocals also take pretty common sludge characteristics and are of the tortured screaming variety. But the guitar tone is almost exactly like the one used on Godflesh's debut album Streetcleaner...and the drumming is sort of industrial metalish and mechanical, just like Godflesh, but I do believe that they use a real drummer instead of machine. I do want to point out that some songs seems to loose the Godflesh sound sometimes, but it does reappear frequently throughout the album.

Overall I'd recommend this album to anyone who likes sludge, or early Godflesh, there's enough of both elements to keep fans of either entertained without being a shameless Godflesh rip off like early Pitchshifter or Soulstorm (both of whom are also excellent, but that's for another review and another time). -taken from metal-archives.com

Recorded and mixed at Side One Studios
New Orleans, LA August 1993
Mastered by Jim Faraci, Los Angeles, CA
Produced by Stressball & Greg Troyer
Engineered & Mixed by Greg Troyer
Artwork : Mitch Nawara

Reissued by Crash Music in 2003.

Track Listing: 

 

1.	Dust	02:47
2.	Pressure	01:41
3.	Time of Pain	02:48
4.	Solitude	05:42
5.	Column	03:13
6.	Transgressor	04:20
7.	Unspoken	02:12
8.	Empty Promises	02:56
9.	Overpowering	03:56
10.	Strain	03:40
Total playing time		33:15

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Stressball - Above The Surface Demo (1997)

1997 - Above The Surface

New Orleans' Stressball were formed in the early '90s and consisted of vocalist Steven Gaille, guitarist Lennon Laviolette, bassist Eddie Dupuy, and drummer Joseph Fazzio. Building their unusual sound from a number of heavy metal and hardcore influences, the group released a single, eponymous album in 1994 before fading into oblivion. On their perplexing 1994 self-titled debut, Southern originals Stressball manage to defy most expectations of what more heavy metal should be, or at least what it usually is: fast-paced, overwhelming, and LOUD. Instead, unnaturally subdued heavies like "Dust," "Colum," and "Empty Promises" casually contradicted these seemingly inexorable maxims with patient, slow-burning intensity. Like Pantera playing at half the volume and half the speed (double kick drums and all), Stressball cook up a mysterious gumbo of sound that combines elements culled from death metal, hardcore punk, and Southern sludge. And if comedic legend Sam Kinison had a son singing for a heavy metal band, he may well have sounded like Stressball screamer Steven Gaille. This album is unquestionably unique, and it's therefore little wonder that Crash Music eventually unearthed it for reissue in 2003. ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide

Track Listing:

1.	Lynched	01:38
2.	Scraped	04:06
3.	Above the Surface	02:44
4.	Bigger Through God	03:31
5.	Need	03:04
6.	Inhibited	02:23
7.	No Escape	03:26
8.	Wall of Rape	03:15

Check them out HERE

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