This fall, the prolific Philip H. Anselmo (Pantera, Down, Superjoint, etc.) released two recordings. First there was When The Cold Truth Has Worn Its Miserable Welcome Out, released on September 4, the debut album the En Minor collective of Anselmo and several musician friends, including Stephen Taylor (Superjoint, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals), Kevin Bond (Superjoint, Christ Inversion) and Paul Webb (Classhole, Mountain of Wizard). En Minor offers a mix of gothic/dark Americana, a musical style quite different from all the projects of the singer’s over the years. When The Cold Truth… is an introspective, melancholic, and psychedelic album that’s worth the detour, revealing another facet of the singer, evoking Leonard Cohen on some tracks (“Melancholia”, “Dead Can’t Dance”, “Hats Off”).
At the other extreme is Scour’s mini-album The Black. The “supergroup” formed by Anselmo, John Jarvis (Agoraphobic Nosebleed), Derek Engemann (Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals), Mark Kloeppel (Misery Index), and Adam Jarvis (Pig Destroyer, Lock Up) appropriately concludes the trilogy begun with the EPs The Grey (2016) and The Red (2017). That’s to say, the six new songs reach a new peak in terms of heaviness, with the exception of “Microbes”, an atmospheric interval that serves as a springboard for the vitriolic “Subprime”. Several guests add spice to the EP, including guitarist Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) and actor Jason Momoa (Dune, Game of Thrones), who can be heard on “Doom”, a black-metal smack that would have its place on an Emperor record. The Black is concise, catches the attention with its effective riffs, and makes you want to hear more.
