Album Review: Down - Down IV Part I: The Purple EP

Are New Orleans' Down the only 'supergroup' worthy of said ridiculous title? Yep. You put members of Eyehategod, Crowbar, Corrosion Of Conformity and Pantera together in a room and they're 'super' before they've even played a note. Down has the distinction of being the only supergroup that lives up to the reputations of its individual band members. Such is the case with Down IV Part I: The Purple EP, the confusingly titled, and long-awaited, follow-up to 2007's III: Over The Under.

Without the perils of addiction (II: A Bustle In The Hegdegrow) or Hurricane Katrina (III: Over The Under) to sing about, Phil Anselmo seems to be more focused on having fun. Collectively and individually, these guys have survived just about every rock'n'roll cliché in the book and now that they're past all of that they just want to dig on some big riffs. There's kind of a patent ridiculousness to some of the numbers here – listening to a track like Witchtripper, you come to understand that Down aren't trying to write Learn From This Mistake Part 2 – but that doesn't diminish the power of any of The Purple EP's six Southern-flavoured, groovy metal numbers.

The record's sense of fun extends to the work of guitarists Kirk Windstein and Pepper Keenan. The interplay between Keenan's licks and Windstein's molasses-thick jams favours Keenan, and The Purple EP sounds like a good-time guitar record as a result. From start to finish, Down IV Part I: The Purple EP sounds like five veteran head-bangers having a good time with the music they do better than anybody else around today.