Pantera’s Philip Anselmo unleashes his inner demons

Factoid:Information on Superjoint Ritual can be found at www.superjointritual.com

From the depths of the Louisiana bayou, an album has been produced that literally screams heavy metal.

Philip Anselmo, frontman for Pantera, has been working off and on for the past decade to produce an album for one of his side projects, Superjoint Ritual. The result is “Use Once and Destroy,” an album that has a title that is not to be taken literally.

From start to finish, this 18-song CD encompasses all the elements that make a classic heavy metal album:loud, fast guitars; pounding drums; a pulsating bass; and high, screeching vocals. “Use Once and Destroy” gives the listener a total rush of energy emanating from Anselmo’s knack for expressing different emotions through his intense lyrics.

Superjoint Ritual features Anselmo on vocals and studio guitars, Jimmy Bower from Eyehategod on guitar, Joe Fazzio on drums and Hank Williams III on bass. And yes, this is the same Hank Williams III that is the grandson of the legendary country-western singer. The country tradition of the Williams family skipped a generation and went metal. Williams says that being in a band as heavy as Superjoint Ritual is something that he’s always wanted to do.

“Just hearing Phil’s voice and the power of the band is awesome,” Williams says in the band’s press release.

Although there’s more to the overall picture, guitarist Jimmy Bower sums up the band by saying “Superjoint is that band with the perfect 15-year-old mentality of having everything loud, everything on 10 (the highest a guitar amplifier will go), getting loaded and letting whatever happens, happen.”

The band takes its influence from Black Flag, Celtic Frost, Slayer and Black Sabbath. Anselmo wrote many of the songs back in 1989 before he had even joined his multi-platinum-selling band, Pantera. The themes of the songs generally follow along the lines of incest, substance abuse and social injustice.

“It Takes No Guts,” the second song on the album, tells the tale of a girl being molested by her father and the guilt that falls on, not only the father, but the people who knew about it and did nothing. The song is performed in a way that reflects the confusion, desperation and fear that victims of such crimes face.

“The Alcoholik” is an insightful song that looks upon drinking as a way of projecting one’s problems on others, and notes that when one tries to escape reality, that also means that life passes him or her by.

Although similar themes are spread throughout the disc, the main focus behind this spectacular metal recording is the speedy precision and soulfulness that is able to translate throughout “Use Once and Destroy.”

In comparison to most of the other metal-related recordings previously released this year, Superjoint Ritual’s debut offering is definitely one of the most promising, and most certainly, one of the few metal recordings that has stayed true to metal in the real meaning by being heavy, fast, loud and conscious to the plight of middle-class America.

Reporter Jared DuBach can be reached at [email protected]