Choke - "Choke", 1997

Louisiana's Choke was one of those bands that could have been bigger, but for a variety of reasons didn't manage to take advantage of its best years; while pretty active between '94 and '99, it started losing momentum in the 2000s, after Hurricane Katrina first and Rita later disrupted the local scene, leaving a lot of musicians either homeless or with way bigger problems to take care of than running a band. While Eyehategod, Crowbar, Goatwhore, and a few others managed to pick themselves up and went on to become some of the most internationally recognized names to come out of that scene, Choke started having lineup troubles and only managed to release a bunch of demos in the years that followed, reverting back into obscurity and mostly appearing live occasionally in its home state. Not that the band has ever been on the verge of widespread notoriety; its two official full-length albums were self-produced, and despite a few coast-to-coast tours in the 90s, including a show at New York's CBGB, the band apparently didn't spark much interest in the music business compared to many of its peers. It's a pity, since Choke was a pretty solid band regardless and would have deserved something more at the time.

Its first self-titled full-length CD, also released as a demo cassette, is a good introduction to the band's music; it's a consistent record, displaying a style that definitely belongs to the groove metal universe, although it flirts with alternative rock and early nu-metal without entirely forgetting its southern, sludgy roots. Frontman Tracy McGinnis is a versatile singer, with a voice that can resemble Acid Bath's Dax Riggs and Korn's Jonathan Davis or even Deftones's Chino Moreno, and everything in between; he can scream or get more aggressive when needed, but he seems to mostly favor his clean tone, giving the material a very characteristic 90s flavor, and possibly even a certain mainstream appeal.

When listened to today, "Choke" sounds very 90s, in fact, and that could be seen as either something positive - if you lived through those years or if you just like bands from that era - or negative, if you think that sort of sound is dated and aged badly. If you go in expecting to find a lesser-known alternative to Acid Bath, you might get disappointed, and you'd better try another Louisiana band, Abuse, if that's what your're searching for. Some comparisons with it can still be drawn, though, although it's like if Choke only took Acid Bath's slower or mid-tempo riffs, its bass guitar breaks, and the Dax Riggs-esque vocal lines; the band never attempts the blast-beat sections and the faster death/thrash riffs of Sammy Duet's creature.

Even if you're more into Eyehategod's kind of stuff, this band is definitely not what you're looking for. The typical southern metal feel is mostly a foundation in the overall context of Choke's sound, and it rears its head occasionally, especially when the usual mix of hardcore influences and dense, chugging, detuned guitars comes to the forefront, or when one-string, doomier riffs appear. Most of the time, though, Choke employs groovy, choppy song structures that could even bring Helmet to mind, especially when paired with the more melodic vocals, or even Clutch, when the band goes for a more rocking approach.

The production sounds solid and impactful enough. The guitars and bass are heavy and in-your-face, while the vocals would have probably deserved some more fine-tuning, sounding a little thin and dry during the clean singing sections; the drums sound pretty dry too, but they're in line with the trend of those years.

Choke's debut album is a product of its time, and you should enjoy it as such. It's not particularly original, and the songwriting often comes off as a bit naive, but it certainly featured a potential that could have led the band on to better things. Today, it's a lesser-known page in the southern metal book that you might want to rediscover, especially if you like to have some melody to go with the usual down-tuned brutality.