So, here’s a conundrum for you. How to review a band that is made up of members of Sludge legends Eyehategod, playing music that sounds very much like Eyehategod, without referencing Eyehategod in every other sentence? Well, clearly it’s impossible, and so Outlaw Order are going to suffer comparisons to their main band throughout this review. Everyone but Jimmy Bower is present on Dragging Down The Enforcer, a grim-faced stomp through the swamp that will appeal to all fans of that ‘Nawleans’ sound – drawn-out riffs, paranoid screams, hardcore intensity, drawn up into a whiskey-drinking pummelling. The likes of Safety Off touch on Doom Metal territory, sounding like a less abstract Soilent Green at times (guitarist and bassist Brian Patton also playing for them) and those that wanted the Crowbar/Hatebreed collaboration Kingdom Of Sorrow to work will doubtless find all that promised and more present on songs like Double Barrel Solves Everything and the Blues-tinged Alcohol Tobacco Firearms.

Dragging Down The Enforcer is far from a poor album, but it’s a long way from a brilliant one. Songs are too similar, riffs seem reused, Mike Williams’ pissed-off scream too unchanging – it could quite easily be one long piece rather than a collection of songs. Even at just under half an hour in length, the album can get dull; the difference between listening to a drug addict tiresomely describing his experiences to you and experiencing them in all their paranoid headfuckery for yourself. Whilst other bands can make the rebellious attitude spat out here compelling, Outlaw Order don’t manage it.

The chances are that most people who hunt this down will be into Sludge, au fait with the works of Eyehategod, Crowbar and so on, and when judged against the better offerings of the NOLA scene, Outlaw Order can’t help but seem poor in comparison. Sludge, like the rest of the Doom world, is anything but original at the best of times, and once you’ve heard the best, listening to the rest is optional. Sadly, there just aren’t enough moments of Sabbath-fuelled greatness to make this a worthwhile purchase, and whilst it won’t be a disappointment to rabid Eyehategod fans, it is hardly something they’ll be falling over themselves to hear over and over again.