Down - Volume V [2LP Clear Orange]

Down's Volume V is the New Orleans heavyweights' first full-length album since 2007, and it lands as a gatefold 2LP set on clear orange vinyl.

The line-up is the one fans hoped to see: Phil Anselmo on vocals, Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein trading guitars, Pat Bruders on bass and Jimmy Bower behind the kit. After a pair of EPs in the 2010s, the band went back to basics, concentrating on songwriting and arrangements rather than sheer volume, with Eddie Mapp producing alongside the group and Dave Fortman handling the mix. The result feels like a reunion with purpose rather than a victory lap.

Expect swampy, Sabbath-sized riffs, grooves that sit deep in the pocket and Anselmo's bourbon-scorched bark riding over the top. Lead single "Blood Oath" stomps in with the slow menace the band built their name on, and "The Myth" opens the record with a fittingly epic sense of scale. "Merciful Fate" is the summit meeting, bringing in King Diamond, joined by Livia Zita, for a collision of Louisiana sludge and Danish theatrics.

It is a record steeped in humidity, whiskey and brotherhood, made by veterans who still play like they have something to prove. On clear orange vinyl, it glows like a streetlight on Bourbon Street at closing time.