Revelation: Sick Again

VINYL FORMAT. It's been said many times over that suffering can render magnificent, if sometimes horrifying, results when skillfully transmuted into image, word or song. This maxim might be a good summation of the existence of Buzzov-en who have notoriously lived the most extreme facets of the rock n' roll lifestyle - drug addiction, rehab, relapse, jail, break ups, reunions. Through all this they managed to produce some of the most beautifully damaged music since Black Flag's descent into the nihilistic abyss of My War. Straddling the lines of metal, doom and filthy hardcore, Buzzov-en still stand as a significant pillar of the 90's underground alongside other such disfigured anomalies (and occasional touring partners) Eyehategod and Neurosis. Their gait may have occasionally faltered due to some of the aforementioned obstacles, but in the first decade of their existence Buzzov-en revealed remarkable consistency, creating an ever growing procession of nightmarish, skull-scraping albums and EPs. Though not surprising given their dysfunctional history, the premature burial of their last studio album due to legal entanglements was yet another frustrating occurrence in a long line of minor and major catastrophes for the band. Written and recorded under a self-described period of "exhaustion, drug-induced confusion and frustration" their music once again managed to flourish despite (or perhaps because of) the adverse circumstances under which it was created. Revelation: Sick Again is classic Buzzov-en, replete with blistering Sabbath-ian riffing, throat torn eulogies to the narcotically oppressed, and monumental gutter dwelling dirges. Over the course of the albums' eight tracks the untidy trio unfurls their tentacles reaching into the dim recesses of human existence to pull forth yet another grizzled portrait of life gone horribly wrong. Previously available only to bootleg diehards and internet trolls in inferior incarnations, this long lingering blackened gem has finally been disinterred for the world at large and properly presented in all its ragged filthy glory.