Review by Frost on December 14, 2021.

I've already discussed how botched Superjoint Ritual's debut Use Once And Destroy was. It had potential as it combined thrash, hardcore punk, sludge, and maybe even a little bit of death metal, but tripped and fell due to its dry production values and mostly forgettable songs that were wholly skippable and added nothing to the experience. Well, because Phil is never one to rest on his laurels, he continued to tour and perform with Superjoint as his secondary project while Down maintained the entirety of his focus as his main band after Pantera's burial. On top of that, one year later, Sanctuary Records, the label who distributed their debut, would distribute their sophomore album, A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred. Phil had another chance to gauge the public's reaction once again with what would be their last album for a long time. Did it manage to capture my attention more than their debut?

The short answer is "yes." The more in-depth answer is "yes, but with a few less hangups than before."

First thing's first, the line-up has changed slightly. They acquired a third guitarist since Jimmy Bower decided to remain on board as the band's main guitar arm, and Michael Haaga was no longer the bassist, being instead replaced with well-known country rebel music star and good friend of Phil Anselmo, Hank Williams III. There are plenty of songs here where you can hear Hank's playing shine through as a good melodic counterpoint and the low-end of his bass sounds great when it's there. I'm sure it's because Phil helped in the mixing of this album, so it's no wonder why you can hear the bass a lot clearer. Occasionally, the bass is drowned out by the guitars like in 'Sickness' or 'Waiting For The Turning Point', but it doesn't happen all that often throughout. The bass isn't morphed into the guitars, which is definitely an improvement from Use Once And Destroy.

The songs themselves have more substance, too. There's more to chew on than on their previous album. It's like they listened to some of the blowback they received and tweaked a few things to make it sound better. Gone was the dry production as I mentioned, gone is the filler (for the most part), gone are the meandering sections that don't do anything to move the song forward (again, for the most part). Replacing these are more fully realized concepts and more targeted rage. 'Never To Sit Or Stand Again' is a good example of that targeted rage. The song is one of the longest at five minutes and it uses its time wisely with pummeling riffs and some solid drum work by Joe Fazzio once again, including a groovy d-beat sounding pattern during the slow part that sounds awesome. Other songs also benefit from being as pissed off as possible like 'Personal Insult' and 'Permanently', where Phil channels his rage in triple digits with some of the most vicious lyrics I've read from him.

Two of the songs on here were demos that were extra tracks on the reissue of their debut, those being 'Waiting For The Turning Point' ['Starvation Trip'] and 'Stealing A Page Or Two From Armed & Radical Pagans' ['Little H']. They've been refined and retooled, obviously, for this album, and they sound and feel much better. Some might prefer the rawer and faster versions of these songs, and that's fine, but I prefer the versions that sound complete and fully realized.

Everything seems to be going well as the album goes, but as always, there are some major potholes on its journey to completion. Some songs drag on for too long, for example. The two glaring elephants in the room are 'Symbol Of Nevermore' and 'Absorbed'. The former is just forgettable on its own, but it has this really ugly, meandering opening with these dissonant, atonal riffs rumbling over a pointless bass that goes absolutely nowhere for two minutes of this song's five minute run time. The latter is just awful. The song itself it okay, though. It's nothing special, but it's the ending that's utterly unbearable and makes this song stand out in the worst way. I don't know what manner of substance Phil was abusing to come up with this, but it's ear rape. The latter is a nearly six minute song, with three of those minutes containing actual riffs, harmonies, drums, and vocals, while the last three minutes is an unconscionable act of torture in the form of deep single chugging riff that drags on to the album's conclusion. Three minutes of this directionless creeping riff. It's fucking awful, plain and simple, and it murders what could've otherwise been a decent conclusion to this album.

What's also strange is that they kept in Phil yelling "One! Two! Three! Four!" at the beginning of a lot of these songs. I don't know why they did this, if it was a conscious decision from Phil, but it's hilarious, nevertheless. It's so out of place, though, and it cannot be ignored for how weird it is to hear that in eight of the thirteen songs recorded. That's nearly two-thirds of the songs! There's a couple forgettable and bland songs here and there, but overall, this album is an improvement over their debut. A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred is a much more memorable experience that will stick with you, leaving an impression of an album that's better stitched together and a vision more clearly defined. If it weren't for those problems, especially those two songs that completely take a buckshot to the face of this album's consistency, it would've ranked higher.

This would be the last album the band put out for a very long time until 2016, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Rating: 7 out of 10