DOWN
Biography and discography of Down, the New Orleans band formed in 1991 by Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity and Kirk Windstein of Crowbar, with a page for each of their six studio releases from NOLA in 1995 to Volume V in 2026, including running orders, CD details and liner notes, on METAL BOOST.
Biography
DOWN
Biography
Down are an American band formed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1991. Five musicians whose main work was elsewhere started it: Phil Anselmo of Pantera on vocals, Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity and Kirk Windstein of Crowbar on guitars, Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod on drums and Todd Strange, also of Crowbar, on bass. They were already friends, and they listened to the same records — Black Sabbath, Trouble, Saint Vitus.
Formed in New Orleans (1991- )
The band's first move was a three-song demo made for underground trading. Anselmo and Keenan would ask metal fans whether they had heard of a band called Down and hand over a copy without mentioning that they were in it. The tape travelled across the United States, and at a small hometown show an executive from Elektra Records worked out who was playing and offered them a contract. Warner Music Japan's own profile of the band tells the same story, and treats that decision — to let the music go out with no names attached — as where Down begins.
Anselmo later described the debut as sounding and feeling like a very loud demo, built out of three three-song tapes the band had made for the fun of it. They were still working out what they were, and they were deep in the bands that had come out of Black Sabbath: Saint Vitus, Trouble, Witchfinder General.
NOLA and the first hiatus (1995-1998)
The debut, NOLA, came out in September 1995; the title abbreviates New Orleans, Louisiana. David Reamer of AllMusic singled out "Temptation's Wings", "Stone the Crow" and "Bury Me in Smoke" and called it a landmark that belongs in any collection of heavy metal. Rock Hard later placed it at number 244 in its 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.
The tour behind it ran to thirteen dates, and when it ended everybody went back to their own bands. That is the arrangement Down has always run on: when any member's other band is moving, Down makes room for it. Anselmo set the principle out again in a 2018 interview — while Superjoint is working there is no real time for Down, and everyone understands that; and yes, they will record another Down record, because everybody is committed to it.
Rex Brown and Down II (1999-2005)
In 1999, during the hiatus, Todd Strange left and Pantera's Rex Brown took over on bass. In November 2001 the band moved into Anselmo's barn, wanting a bluesy feel. In that room — Nodferatu's Lair — the writing and recording of Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow took twenty-eight days. The subtitle is a line from Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven".
Released on 26 March 2002, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 44 to a divided reception: Blabbermouth.net's reviewer thought it fell short of the debut, while Metal Hammer in Britain gave it eight out of ten. The Japanese edition followed on 10 April as AMCY-10007. The band toured the second stage of Ozzfest and then went quiet again.
Over the Under, and a live record (2006-2010)
Down started again in 2006, signed to Warner Bros. in the United States and Roadrunner everywhere else. Over the Under, written over about a year, arrived in September 2007 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 26 on some 29,000 copies. Its subjects are the band's anger at what happened to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the end of Pantera, the murder of the former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, and Anselmo's recovery from back surgery and from addiction. A tour with Heaven & Hell and Megadeth came first, and a long headline run after it.
On 5 October 2010 they released Diary of a Mad Band: Europe in the Year of VI, a CD and DVD carrying a complete London concert from the 2006 European tour across two discs; the VI in the title is the year it was recorded. It had been due on 23 March and was held back to October over legal issues. It is the last Down release with Rex Brown on it, and the vinyl edition was retitled Threefold Live with different artwork. This site gives a page to the studio records only, so that album has none here.
The two Down IV records (2011-2014)
In June 2011 Jimmy Bower confirmed that Rex Brown would not be returning and that Pat Bruders of Crowbar had replaced him. Instead of another album the band chose to release four EPs in sequence, and the first of them, Down IV – Part I, came out on 18 September 2012. Also known as The Purple EP, its six songs reached number 35 on the Billboard 200. No Japanese pressing was made; Warner Music Japan and Roadrunner put the import on sale here from 6 October and added a QR code so that buyers could download the Japanese notes and translations.
Kirk Windstein left the band in the summer of 2013 and Bobby Landgraf played guitar in his place. The second EP, Down IV – Part II, followed on 13 May 2014. In Japan the two halves were coupled into a twelve-track domestic edition, WPCR-15739, on 9 July that year. The series stopped there: a third and fourth part were never released.
Back together, and Volume V (2019- )
In November 2019 the band announced shows for 2020, and in December it emerged that the founding guitarist Kirk Windstein was returning, timed to the twenty-fifth anniversary of NOLA. In an interview published in August 2025 Windstein said the new album was past its halfway point, with the drums, bass and rhythm guitars all finished.
On 13 February 2026 the band put out a cover of Dr. John's "Right Place, Wrong Time" for Mardi Gras. On 19 August they announced their fourth album, Volume V, along with the single "Blood Oath"; Nuclear Blast have announced it for release on 20 November. It is their first full-length since Over the Under, nineteen years earlier, and King Diamond sings on its second song, "Merciful Fate".
A note on the line-up
The line-up given in the label's August 2026 announcement is Philip H. Anselmo on vocals, Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein on guitars, Pat Bruders on bass and Jimmy Bower on drums. The bass passed from the founding Todd Strange (1991-1999) to Rex Brown (1999-2011) and then to Bruders, and Bobby Landgraf covered the second guitar while Windstein was away between 2013 and 2019.
This site does not carry structured member data for Down, because the band's own website publishes no first-party page listing the current line-up. What is above comes from the label's announcement and from Warner Music Japan's artist profile.
Discography
Six studio releases are registered on this site. The live album Diary of a Mad Band: Europe in the Year of VI (2010, issued on vinyl as Threefold Live), the 1992 demos, the 2008 BBC session and the singles are not included. The two Down IV records are EPs, but the band and the label put them out as a fourth album split in half — and Japan received them coupled on one disc — so they stand in the main sequence here.
| # | Album | Format | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NOLA | Album | September 1995 |
| 2 | Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow | Album | 26 March 2002 |
| 3 | Over the Under | Album | 24 September 2007 |
| 4 | Down IV – Part I | EP | 18 September 2012 |
| 5 | Down IV – Part II | EP | 13 May 2014 |
| 6 | Volume V | Album | 20 November 2026 |
Sources disagree on the day in September 1995 that NOLA was published, so only the month is given. The date for Down IV – Part II is the American one; the British CD came out the day before.
Japanese shows
Down have played Japan twice, both times at Loud Park at Saitama Super Arena. The first was 18 October 2008, day one of Loud Park 08: the festival's own line-up page puts them on at 19:35, directly below the headliner Slipknot, and Warner Music Japan's artist profile calls it the band's first visit to the country. Rex Brown was on bass and they were touring Over the Under.
The second was 18 October 2014, day one of Loud Park 14. The festival announced Down for Saturday the 18th, and Warner Music Japan's notice of the WOWOW broadcast marks day one as Down's day. Bobby Landgraf played guitar on that visit.
A third Japanese date was announced and never happened. A headline show at umeda AKASO in Osaka on 16 October 2014 was cancelled when weather at home in New Orleans delayed the band's flights. No replacement date was arranged and every ticket was refunded. Because the concert was not played, it is not listed in this site's LIVE section.
A note on sources
The facts above come from the English Wikipedia's band article (the 1991 formation, the anonymous demo and the Elektra contract, the hiatuses, the changes of bassist, the twenty-eight days at Nodferatu's Lair, Ozzfest, the 2006 signing, Windstein's departure and return, the 2026 announcement) and its articles on the individual albums (dates, labels, studios, producers, personnel, running orders, the Stairway to Heaven subtitle and the hidden track), Warner Music Japan's artist profile and news items (the Japanese editions, catalogue numbers and prices, both Japanese concerts, the cancelled Osaka show and the WOWOW broadcast), the official Loud Park site's line-up and announcements (the performance days and times), Blabbermouth.net's report of 19 August 2026 (Volume V's release date, its production credits, its running order and King Diamond's appearance), MusicBrainz's release data (catalogue numbers, formats, track counts and the verified profile links), and the Spotify embed payloads (identifying each album and whether it will play). All were read on 29 September 2026.
Trivia
Their first visit to Japan was on 18 October 2008, at Loud Park 08 in Saitama Super Arena. The festival's own line-up page shows twelve acts on that day, running from 11:00 to 20:45, with Down at 19:35 — the slot directly before Slipknot, who closed it. Warner Music Japan's profile calls this the band's first appearance in the country.
Down IV was conceived as four EPs and two of them exist. In Japan those two were put on one disc. The edition Warner Music Japan bill as Down IV Part 1&2, WPCR-15739, was released on 9 July 2014 as a Japan-only release carrying all twelve songs — six from each half — and it is also how the first EP, sold here only as an import, became available as a domestic release.
The band arrived without saying who it was. Warner Music Japan's artist profile describes the method plainly: the five of them deliberately kept their names off the demo they made and handed out, putting only the band's name on it. The music travelled first, and only after the tape had spread across the United States did it become clear that this was a supergroup built around Philip Anselmo. An executive from Elektra Records worked it out at a small hometown show, and the contract followed.
One concert on the 2014 visit never happened. A headline show was booked for 16 October at umeda AKASO in Osaka, and it was called off after weather at home in New Orleans delayed the band's flights; a replacement date at the Osaka venue was looked into and could not be made to fit. The band's management put out a statement addressed to their audience in Osaka, and every ticket was refunded. Their Loud Park appearance two days later went ahead as planned.
No Japanese pressing of Down IV – Part I was made in 2012. Warner Music Japan and Roadrunner chose instead to put the import on sale here from 6 October, and added something to it: a QR code that downloads a PDF card carrying the Japanese sleeve notes and the lyric translations. It exists so that someone buying the import still gets the Japanese commentary and the translated words.
Their 2014 Loud Park set was broadcast on Japanese television. WOWOW Live gave over 10 February 2015 to the festival, showing every act: day one from 20:00 and day two from 22:30. Warner Music Japan's notice of the broadcast marks the day-one slot as the one with Down on it.
King Diamond appears on "Merciful Fate", the second song on Volume V, due in November 2026. The label's announcement describes the track peaking on a vocal duel between him and Anselmo, with solos played over it at a hundred and twenty beats a minute, and adds that King Diamond's wife, Livia Zita, sings on it as well.
The band has a fixed place to write in: Nodferatu's Lair, Anselmo's home studio, which has been where they gather since Down II in 2002. According to the label's announcement, most of Volume V came out of two writing sessions there, done the way they have always done it — everyone in the same room, songs starting on the spot as they played at each other. The material took shape through 2025, and Keenan and Windstein recorded their guitar parts at the same time.
News
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY And DOWN’s PEPPER KEENAN Is Working On His First-Ever Solo Album
Keenan confirmed the album on the "We Wreck Records" podcast, saying he has a large stock of songs he had been saving for later in life and is now slowly organising them, working out which guitarist or drummer he wants on each track.
PANTERA Put Tickets For Two-Night New Orleans Event “The Great NOLA Trendkill” On Sale
The band announced that tickets are now on sale for two nights at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on November 20 and 21. The bill also features DOWN, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, POWER TRIP, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, CROWBAR, PIG DESTROYER, EYEHATEGOD, Rāde and Herakleion.
PANTERA Announces “The Great Nola Trendkill” Two-Day Festival With DOWN, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, Others
Presented by Housecore Horror, Housecore Records and Live Nation, the two-day festival takes place at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on 20-21 November and marks PANTERA's first show in the city in 30 years, nodding to the 30th anniversary of 1996's “The Great Southern Trendkill”. The weekend also serves as DOWN's official “Volume V” release show, with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, POWER TRIP, CROWBAR, EYEHATEGOD and PIG DESTROYER also performing.
SLAYER Celebrate The 40th Anniversary Of “Reign In Blood” By Performing The Album In Full
The show took place on September 4 at the Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota with support from DOWN, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and HATEBREED, and the 23-song set included “Piece By Piece”, “Necrophobic” and “Criminally Insane” for the first time since 2014 and “Altar Of Sacrifice” for the first time since 2015.
DOWN Announce ‘Volume V’, Their First New Album In Over A Decade, For November 20
The New Orleans sludge supergroup have returned with the new song “Blood Oath” and will release “Volume V”, their first new album in over a decade, on November 20 via Nuclear Blast.
Play MVAlbums
Down's fourth album, due from Nuclear Blast on 20 November 2026. It is their first full-length since Over the Under in 2007, and King Diamond sings on "Merciful Fate".
Down's second six-song EP in the Down IV series, from May 2014, and the only record they made with Bobby Landgraf on guitar in place of Kirk Windstein.
Down's first six-song EP in the Down IV series, from September 2012 and also known as The Purple EP. It was their first new music in five years.
Down's third album, from September 2007, also known as Down III: Over the Under. Its anger comes out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Down's second album, issued by Elektra in March 2002. The subtitle comes from the lyrics of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven".
Down's debut, issued by EastWest in 1995. The title abbreviates New Orleans, Louisiana, and the record keeps the damp of the American South inside it.