▶ SOUNDING
black metal shrieks with jackhammer gabber beats. We’d call it the sound of hell’s discotheque on a Monday, when all the bluecollar ghouls are especially disgruntled at the onset of yet another work week.
The Fat Dukes, “Bafomitorium”
“Let’s fling open the doors of the nearest sanitarium, equip all the patients with guitars, butcher knives, various adult periodicals and a wheelbarrow full of trucker speed and see what happens!” We’re not suggesting that’s how this record was made, just that it totally sounds like it. “Bafomitorium” isn’t scary so much as disturbing, from deranged diary reading “Summertime” to the full-on psychotic episode that is “Vegas Take One.” You could have never been within 500 feet of these noise rock subverts and still seriously consider filing a restraining order against them, based solely on this album.
Goatlord, “Reflections of the Solstice”
When it comes time to kick the bucket, most of us would prefer to gently tap it over in our sleep. You perish s-l-oo-o-w-l-y in these dudes’ company, though, like that skinny chap chained to the bed in “Seven.” Though it was released 26 years ago, this doom death cult classic remains one of the heaviest records to come from these parts. Grab a pew in the “Underground Church” and prepare for pain.
Steel Panther, “All You Can Eat”
True dread comes in many forms: The demon under the bed, the ghost in the attic, grown men in zebra-print spandex. So many real-life nightmares are addressed bythesebravehairmetal preservationists here. Specifically, “The Burden of Being Wonderful”: “I’m just a Maserati in a world of Kias / ‘Genius’ would describe any of my ideas,’ frontman Michael Starr sings. “If I was born in 1453 / Leonardo Da Vinci would be jealous of me / But a world of Stevie Wonders never see.” Oh, the horror.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0476. Follow @Jasonbracelin on Twitter.