Superjoint

In the opening years of the new millennium, Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo pursued multiple side endeavors such as Necrophagia, Viking Crown, Christ Inversion, Southern Isolation, and Superjoint Ritual. The last of these featured guitarists Jim Bower and Kevin Bond alongside drummer Joseph Fazzio and bassist Hank Williams III; Anselmo managed both vocals and bass on the studio recordings yet restricted himself to vocals alone during live performances. Bower later characterized the band’s approach to writing and tracking their first record as embodying “the perfect 15-year-old mentality of having everything loud, everything on 10, getting loaded, and letting whatever happens, happen.” The sessions took place inside a converted rehearsal room housed in Anselmo’s backyard and were overseen by Dave Fortman, the ex-Ugly Kid Joe musician who had established himself as a producer for intensely heavy acts including Eyehategod and Soilent Green. Use Once and Destroy, the five-piece’s debut album, appeared in May 2002 and drew from sources that ranged from Black Flag and Righteous Pigs to Celtic Frost and Voivod. Superjoint Ritual backed the release with an extensive summer tour that same year. Their follow-up, A Lethal Dose of American Hatred, arrived in 2003 and spawned the singles “Waiting for the Turning Point” and “Dress Like a Target.” Operations ceased after a 2004 conflict between Anselmo and Fazzio escalated beyond repair. Two reunion concerts in 2014 and 2015 nevertheless prompted the musicians—now performing under the shortened name Superjoint—to reenter the studio for a long-delayed third album, Caught Up in the Gears of Application, which surfaced the next year.