EYEHATEGOD is one of the most influential bands to ever emerge from the New Orleans music scene despite their sparse output. Formed in 1988, the sludge metal legends have only managed to release 5 albums due, in part, to the band members’ penchants for heavy drug use and side projects. Singer Mike Williams, in particular, has fought a very public battle with heroin addiction. Guitarist Jimmy Bower is a multi-instrumentalist who has also been in Crowbar and Phil Anselmo’s supergroups Down and Superjoint Ritual. In his absence, the other four members of the band have a side project known as Outlaw Order.

This week’s Massive Metal Monday track is “Medicine Noose” from EYEHATEGOD’s self-titled 2014 album
EYEHATEGOD. Sadly, it is the final album to feature founding drummer Joey LaCaze, who passed away in 2013 from respiratory failure.

This MMM is dedicated to the memory of Joey LaCaze.

Most folks know Phil Anselmo as the singer of metal giants Pantera or from his current main band Down. But those who have followed the man’s career closely will recall the amazing work that he did with the metal super-group Superjoint Ritual. It was a side project where Anselmo could pursue his love of crossover thrash. Crossover is a blend of thrash metal and hardcore punk that was pioneered by bands such as Suicidal Tendencies, Agnostic Front, Stormtroopers of Death, Discharge, and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles in the 1980s.

Continue below to check out the track “Waiting for the Turning Point” from Superjoint Ritual’s 2003 album A Lethal Dose of American Hatred.