After 20 years and 9 studio albums, one can pretty much know what to expect when they listen to a CROWBAR album. Thick, sludgy riffs mix with guttural, strained vocals to form a fairly unique sound in the genre. Even though, aside from bandleader Kirk Windstein, the band-members have changed often over the years, the sound has remained pretty much intact. One thing that I thought might change the band's sound somewhat is the fact that Kirk has apparently "cleaned-up" since their 2005 album "Lifesblood for the Downtrodden," but to be honest I do not notice much of a difference, however that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Things start out in typical CROWBAR fashion for the first few songs. "Liquid Sky and Cold Black Earth" and "Let Me Mourn" have those distinctive Windstein riffs, but offer very little in the way of innovation. They could have fit in on any of CROWBAR's other albums of the past 10 years. For some people, more of the same from CROWBAR is sufficient; personally I wish they had included something different. One of my favorites from their back catalogue is "Planets Collide," because they mixed things up with a song that is totally unique from everything else they have done.

Thankfully, things get a lot better with "Cemetery Angels." It picks up the speed a bit and offers more variation and a stronger hook than the title track. If the chorus does not make you head-bang then you are listening to the wrong genre, brother. Easily the best track on the album. "As I Become One" has a nice melodic break in the middle and some nice transitions amongst the riffs, although the ending is a bit abrupt. "A Farewell to Misery" is a surprisingly effective instrumental, with clean guitars and a piano and crooning, definitely another highlight. Things stay strong for pretty much the rest of the album.

Would I recommend "Sever the Wicked Hand"? Sure! And that's saying something; this comes from someone who cannot make it through a CROWBAR album without getting bored by the end, if I even make it that far. Even though I was not overly crazy about the first several songs, they were not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Some CROWBAR fans who think I am a fool for calling CROWBAR monotonous may even rank this as one of their best albums. I would not go that far, but "Sever the Wicked Hand" should be a part of every Flower-Metal hating metal-head's next haul.