We count down THE 50 GREATEST CULT BANDS. All the office arguments were worth it to bring you this incredible list.
Well, we’re here to shower a little love on some of those bands. Over the next 16 pages, you’ll find our countdown of the 50 Greatest Cult Bands Ever. By ‘cult’, we mean those bands whose brilliance and influence never gets the respect or attention it deserves beyond a handful of clued-in diehards.
Some of these bands were destined for greatness, only to have it snatched away by bad timing, music industry idiocy or heartbreaking tragedy. Others were so far ahead of their time people just couldn’t get their heads around them (and frequently still can’t). Then there were those who weren’t even aware of their own genius, and blinked out of existence before their influence could even register. And let’s not forget those who have reunited or are still forging their own, unique path.
All life is here, from obscure classic metal warhorses to subterranean noise terrorists, from the unsung founders of entire genres to acts who created a field of their own. The one thing that unites them all is that they deserve to be heard by everybody. It’s time for the forgotten heroes to rewrite history…
FALL OF EFRAFA
These enigmas meshed post-metal, posthardcore and crust during their threealbum run. The trilogy retold Watership Down’s storyline, using it to voice antifascist and vegan ideologies. Despite enjoying underground acclaim, the Brits split after 2009’s Inlé, claiming they’d said everything they wanted to. LISTEN TO: Last But Not Least (Owsla, 2006)
SUPER JUNKY MONKEY
From 1994-1999 four Japanese women took the Day-glo hued world of angular and balls-out funky rock/ metal by storm, becoming darlings of the JNCOS and backwards baseball cap scene via two Sony-issued fulllengths. Their second, 1996’s Parasitic People, attracted worldwide attention and even a Sick Of It All collaboration before they disbanded following vocalist Mutsumi Fukuhara’s suicide. LISTEN TO: A.I.E.T.O.H. (A.I.E.T.O.H., 1995)
3
Formed by guitarist/ vocalist Joey Eppard and his brother Josh on drums, these American progressive rockers have long been touring buds with Coheed And Cambria, who nicked Josh for themselves during the early 2000s. Though 3 haven’t achieved the same degree of success, they certainly deserve it, their albums crafted with a heartfelt intelligence. LISTEN TO: The End Is Begun (The End Is Begun, 2007)
EPHEL DUATH
These avant-garde Italians weren’t afraid to follow their artistic urges, branching off into jazz and hardcore while embracing esoteric concepts. Second album The Painter’s Palette linked songs to colours, while fifth album Through My Dog’s
Eyes whimsically delivered exactly what the title promised – a record told entirely from a pooch’s perspective. LISTEN TO: Listen to: Gift (Through My Dog’s Eyes, 2009)
OXBOW
As if possessing an indescribable discography that falls somewhere between minimalist composer Steve Reich interpreting Neurosis in a 1930s blues joint isn’t enough, their legendary shows open up dangerous dimensions. Attendees may find themselves on the wrong end of MMA moves administered by their larger-than-life, but more-than-half-naked frontman, Eugene S. Robinson. LISTEN TO: The Last Good Time (Serenade In Red, 1996)
WARNING
The Strength to Dream (1999) was a decent slab of Sabbathian doom metal, with its roots firmly in the Vitus camp. The band then did nothing for years, while Pat
Walker concentrated on an acting career that took in Pixar films and Terry’s Chocolate Orange ads. After seven years off, no one was expecting the gut-wrenching follow-up, Watching from a Distance. While the doom world seemed fixated on amps and aping Electric Wizard, it took its cues from the slow-core vibes of Low and Red House Painters; less riff-based and more about a stripped-back despondency. Somehow able to capture the very essence of heartbreak, tracks such as Bridges and Footprints are a slow-motion unravelling of emotions that have brought the most hardened of doomsters to tears – just ask Pallbearer. For those in the know, Watching from a Distance is possibly the finest doom album of the 21st century. LISTEN TO: Faces (Watching From A Distance, 2006)
MADE OUT OF BABIES
You might know Julie Christmas from her work on acclaimed Cult Of Luna album Mariner, but before that she fronted Brooklyn noise rockers Made Out Of Babies, singing and screaming her lungs out with abrasive authenticity. The band split in 2012, but their three albums still stand as brilliant monuments to catharsis. LISTEN TO: Cooker (The Ruiner, 2008)
THE TOILET BÖYS
A bunch of firebreathing, sparkshooting New York gutter punks fronted by a blonde bombshell drag queen named Miss Guy, Toilet Böys were just too much for nu metal’s frat boy contingent to handle. If they’d waited 20 years, they’d have cleaned up on Rupaul’s Drag Race. LISTEN TO: Another Day In The Life (Living Like A Millionaire, 1998)
NASHVILLE PUSSY
Let Them Eat Pussy screamed the title of Nashville Pussy’s 1998 debut album, as Amazonian guitarist Ruyter Suys and bassist Corey Parks got head from two hapless sex slaves on the cover. The Atlanta band could have been the new Motörhead, were it not for the fact that the world had a perfectly good Motörhead already. But shitkicking late-90s rock’n’roll doesn’t come any finer. LISTEN TO: Go Motherfucker Go (Let Them Eat Pussy, 1998)
DIR EN GREY
Even with their albums only available as imports, Japan’s visual kei turned J-rock standard-bearers inspired outright, Beatles-esque hysteria in Sweden and Germany before hitting the UK in 2007. If you weren’t tuned into J-rock culture, seeing their obsessive following in action was like stepping through a looking glass, and they still inspire devotion from hardcore fans. LISTEN TO: Shokubeni (Vulgar, 2003)
GROTUS
This 90s San Francisco outfit weren’t a cult band by design, but their mash-up of altrock, funk, dub and whatever else they fancied throwing in made for a thrilling whole, yet fell between so many stools that finding a fellow worshipper is as much a revelation as the music itself. LISTEN TO: Up Rose The Mountain (Slow Motion Apocalypse, 1993)
SARCÓFAGO
Arguably more than Sepultura, Sarcófago represent the true, sacrilegious spirit of
South American extreme metal. Their 1987 debut album, I.N.R.I. – a primitive but potent stew of caged-animal proto-black metal, death and thrash, with its iconic graveside cover – inspired innumerable bands to swear to the dark. A true game-changer. LISTEN TO: Satanic Lust (I.N.R.I., 1987)
HANDSOME
Like a best-of 1990s NYC hardcore, Handsome saw ex-members of Helmet, Quicksand and Cro-mags team up alongside legendary producer Terry Date to create an overlooked alt-metal gem. Somehow finding cohesion within conflicting elements, Handsome were equal parts obtuse, dissonant and groove-oriented, all tied together with demanding post-hardcore lyricism and gigantic pop choruses. LISTEN TO: Needles (Handsome, 1997)
DOG FASHION DISCO
Well-versed in the wild, wacky world of Mike Patton, Dog Fashion Disco also threw System Of A Down and Frank Zappa into a blender for their own madcap take on avant-garde metal. The fans adored them for it – funding everything from recording new albums and music videos to overseas tours. LISTEN TO: Wait (Erotic Massage, 1997)
THE WORKHORSE MOVEMENT
Released at the dawn of the new millennium, Sons Of The Pioneers’ bold fusion of metal, funk, rap and blue-collar rock looked set to make Detroit’s The Workhorse Movement household names. Fans and critics adored it. Problem was, the band didn’t adore each other, and broke up. Shame. LISTEN TO: Keep The Sabbath Dream Alive (Sons Of The Pioneers, 2000)
QUEENADREENA
Formed from the ashes of the briefly massive Daisy Chainsaw, this Brit alt-rock band were fronted by Katiejane Garside, whose childlike voice conveyed astonishing emotional vulnerability and strength, whether she was singing sweetly or screaming in anguish. Onstage, she was similarly unrestrained, a theatrical performer who did the cutesy/strong ‘kinderwhore’ look before Courtney Love made it popular. A true original. LISTEN TO: Pretty Like Drugs (Drink Me, 2002)
AMEBIX
Born from the original punk movement, Amebix tore their way through the UK toilet circuit in the 80s, leaving crusty fingerprints on everything from black metal to grindcore. Cited as an influence by everybody from Sepultura to Neurosis and Bathory, Amebix are the oft-overlooked missing link between Britain’s punk and metal scenes. LISTEN TO: Arise! (Arise!, 1985)
G.I.S.M.
A genuinely threatening entity in the punk rock secne, G.I.S.M.’S notorious reputation stems from attacks on audiences, use of flame-throwers, and uncompromising, metal-laced mayhem. Their first show in 14 years and first outside of their native Japan, at 2016’s Roadburn festival, brought in fanatics from across the world. LISTEN TO: A.B.C. Weapons (Detestation, 1984)
IMPOTENT SEA SNAKES
Among the most eccentric cult bands of the 20th century, few rivalled the jaw-dropping depravity of the Impotent Sea Snakes. Formed in the mid 80s by Dean Riopelle (stage name ‘13’), the Sea Snakes were a 10-person (and often many more) troupe of crossdressing musicians and performers who transformed every stage into an orgiastic freakshow of sex-charged, rock’n’roll debauchery.
Highly energetic and wantonly provocative, their music united a broad spectrum of subcultures such as punk, metal, BDSM, goth, gay and other alternative lifestyles with a propulsive rock sound and an eye-popping live show. Patrick Briggs, aka ‘Torment XXX’, was co-lead vocalist in the band. He explains that their mission was simple: “Shock and awe, basically. At every fucking gig on the planet.”
‘Shock and awe’ actually undersells what went down at a Sea Snakes gig. As the band uncorked a siege of riff-powered bangers, performers – some on stilts, some carrying snakes – would prowl about, piercing their breasts and genitalia with needles and graphically simulating sex acts on each other, often naked or covered up to the bare minimum required by local law. They burned bibles and US flags, and go-go dancers occasionally used crosses for decidedly unholy purposes.
Many clubs flat-out banned them. The normally progressive city of Los Angeles reportedly threatened to close down two clubs that had booked the ISS, forcing the band to caravan over to nearby Silverlake to play their show. A Georgia club had its alcohol licence revoked after a Sea Snakes show during which bandmembers allegedly exposed themselves. Invariably, they attracted police, religious zealots and protesters hell-bent on stopping the shows, and it was not uncommon for the band to be attacked or threatened.
Patrick recalls, “I had a death threat in Florida. Granted, I can get on your nerves, but not to that extent! Ha ha! Nothing you can do about it; you’re supposed to turn it into the FBI and then they know who killed you when you die.”
Musically, the Sea Snakes released three studio albums hewing mainly to punk, rock and metal. But they would never receive any mainstream radio play or MTV exposure, not with tracks like Pope John Paul Can Suck My Dick. Impotent Sea Snakes Live In Wacken Germany (2005) is their only official DVD, capturing their magnificent set at Wacken, and they also gained notoriety after appearing on a segment of HBO’S Real Sex TV series.
The point was never to simply shock. The Impotent Sea Snakes brought a genuine sense of theatre and panache to every performance. “It’s like Vaudeville schtick. That’s what it is”, says Patrick. Their fans included Lemmy and the wrestler Goldberg, both of whom appear in their Pink Lipstick
video, and guitarist Robin Finck played in the ISS prior to joining Nine Inch Nails in 1994.
With their cult status comes a shroud of tragedy. Seven bandmembers have died from causes including suicide and Aids-related illness. Dean Riopelle passed away from a heroin overdose in 2013. Authorities later brought murder charges against a woman known as the ‘Call Girl Killer’, alleging that she intentionally gave him a fatal shot; she denied any connection to his death.
Excluding a one-off show in 2009, the band have been inactive since 2004, and a reunion seems unlikely (“I don’t see that happening”, says Patrick). But those fortunate enough to have seen them live aren’t likely to forget the experience. With virtually zero mainstream exposure and in the face of unrelenting external pressures, the Impotent Sea Snakes spent more than 20 years blowing minds and melting faces. There will never be another.
LISTEN TO: Kangaroos (Up The Butt)
(God Save The Queens, 1995)
“I HAD A DEATH THREAT IN FLORIDA”
PATRICK BRIGGS
COP SHOOT COP
Although integral to the early/mid-90s underground, Cop Shoot Cop’s stature has become dissipated somewhat, only because no particular scene could properly lay claim to them. Although they had roots in the nihilism of their native NYC’S no wave movement, their taut, claustrophobic urban paranoia made them natural allies of more metallic hometown contemporaries Unsane, Prong and Helmet. Wracked by a self-awareness and sense of ultimate futility, the band’s industriallaced, politically-charged invective also found kindred spirits in the likes of Grotus and Marxist rappers Consolidated. Seething with antagonistic intent, Cop Shoot Cop sounded like they were forging something startling from the wreckage of the modern world, given added sonic frisson by forgoing a guitar in favour of two basses. Their acerbic noise rock made a clear impact on Therapy?, who took them on tour in ’93. LISTEN TO: Coldest Day Of The Year (White Noise, 1991)
VED BUENS ENDE
Although one of the lesser-known bands in the black metal canon, largely on the basis of having only one album to their name, Ved Buens Ende weren’t just instrumental in the scene’s shift into more avantgarde realms, but a seminal act whose reverberations are still felt today. A roving, Kurt Weill-esque lurch awash in spindly riffs and portentous, intoxicated vocals, 1995’s Written In Waters cast a hallucinatory spell throughout Norway and beyond. Akercocke, Voices and incorporated the off-kilter narrative approach, while more blackened tracks such as Den Saakaldte sound like a blueprint for cosmonauts such as Blut Aus Nord. LISTEN TO: You, That May Wither (Written In Waters, 1995)
TREPONEM PAL
When these Parisians’ self-titled debut appeared in 1989, people focused more on their overt lyrical sexuality as opposed to their dystopian sound. Having a track entitled Soft Mouth Vagina will do that, though. With influences such as Foetus and Godflesh, they took industrial metal to pulsating, erotic territory. Their first three albums are small-c classics with fans, critics and peers (guitarists Michel Bassin and Laurent B joined Ministry for Lollapalooza ’92) and, led by sole original member, vocalist Marco Neves, they’ve continued their contemptuous spell with explorations of reggae, dub, techno and disco and stunts such as a revved-up cover of Funky Town. LISTEN TO: The Black Box (Treponem Pal, 1989)
DISCORDANCE AXIS
This New Jersey trio formed in 1992, taking a grindcore base and adding elements of classical, blues, jazz and 70s prog to create something progressive, while Jon Chang’s lyrics were mostly inspired by animé. They were essentially a studio project and only toured in the US and Japan, which was where most of their fanbase were – and even there, records sales figures were only in the hundreds. Their final album, 2000’s The Inalienable Dreamless, would become a grindcore classic, but they split the following year. Drummer Dave Witte would go on to join thrash revivalists Municipal Waste. LISTEN TO: The End Of Rebirth (The Inalienable Dreamless, 2000)
SATAN
The history of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal is littered with bands that squandered or didn’t live up to their potential, but none of them had quite as much of the stuff as Newcastle’s Satan. Although they were more progressively minded than their peers, and had one of the scene’s greatest vocalists, Brian Ross, at the helm for their debut LP, 1983’s Court In The Act. His temporary departure and the various name changes over the years stalled their momentum, despite getting props from Metallica. Since reuniting in 2011, Satan have become revered once more by lovers of classic metal. LISTEN TO: No Turning Back (Court In The Act, 1983)
MANILLA ROAD
The epitome of the true cult metal band, Kansas warriors Manilla Road remained in freakishly niche obscurity for decades, their epic sorcery proving too lurid and arcane for mainstream tastes, even in the 80s. After a string of killer records through the 80s – each steeped in mythological storytelling, their barbarian brawn tempered with a cerebral elegance – the band all but sat out the 90s altogether, as their legacy grew among crate-diggers and connoisseurs.
Regrouping in 2001 with a batshit concept LP about war in Atlantis between Thor, Odin, Poseidon and Cthulhu, the band were able to reap some longoverdue glory, releasing another eight albums and playing to audiences as devoted and euphoric as any Manowarrior. Founding guitarist/vocalist and bona fide metal legend Mark ‘The Shark’ Shelton died after a headline show at Germany’s Headbangers Open Air in 2018, bringing a 40-year career to a premature end, but on a glorious high. LISTEN TO: Necropolis (Crystal Logic, 1983)
HUM
Although the 1990s took many endearing, music-loving nerds and turned them into megastars, Hum weren’t ever interested in embracing the mainstream. Too esoteric for lovers of grunge, too heavy to be considered pure shoegaze and too self-effacing for radio and TV outlets, the eclectic Illinois four-piece never quite settled into a scene, yet their genius didn’t go unnoticed. Distinctively thoughtful and musically ambitious, Hum became one of the most influential bands of the decade following their 1995 album You’d Prefer An Astronaut, which birthed their one chart hit, Stars. Here they explored sparkling planetary adventures and floating atmospherics, channelling shoegaze-inspired sounds through thundering guitar tones, and boldly throwing in introspective, romantic lyrics to enhance the dreaminess of the record. Today, their influence can be seen in the likes of Deftones,
Cave In, Nothing and Teenage Wrist, with many alt-rock outfits attempting to embody Hum’s hulking, distorted chords and lush musical expanses. LISTEN TO: Stars (You’d Prefer An Astronaut, 1995)
FUDGE TUNNEL
There was something discordant yet controlled about Fudge Tunnel, which marked them out as unusual in the early 1990s. The Nottingham trio combined metal with an experimental excitement, and nothing sums up their appeal better than their 1991 debut album, Hate Songs In E Minor. In many ways, it mirrored what Melvins and Swans were doing in the States, but with a twist; they were noisy, vitriolic and dark, with an eccentric sense of humour. Fudge Tunnel released three albums before splitting up in 1994, and only vocalist/guitarist Alex Newport has gone on to achieve success in the music industry. As a producer, he’s recorded bands such as At The Drive-in and The Mars Volta – not surprising, considering they both have a Fudge Tunnel influence running through their veins. The band might be long gone, but the Fudge spirit still runs deep. LISTEN TO: Spanish Fly (Hate Songs In E Minor, 1991)
The fireball collision of rock and hip hop that took place at the start of the 90s seeded a new strain of aggressive music – one that drew on the best of both worlds. Yet most rap-metal bands were just rock kids with an Ice Cube record and a surfeit of testosterone.
Tairrie B was different. She made her name as a rapper with her 1990 debut album, Power Of A Woman, but within a few years, she’d reinvented herself as the singer with rap-metal agitators Manhole, spitting out feminist anthems and redefining perceptions of what it meant to be a woman in a metal band.
Unlike many of her peers, Tairrie wasn’t some suburban knuckledragger. When she rapped, it was real. Her subject matter was authentic and radical in the mid-90s metal scene: violence against women, rape, racial tension, pro-choice issues, police brutality, abusive relationships.
“Manhole were an anomaly,” she says today. “I can’t name another band with a woman doing what we were doing at the time.”
Tairrie was already a pioneer in the hip hop world by the time she formed Manhole. She was the first female rapper to put out a full-length album (the aforementioned Power Of A Woman was released via N.W.A. linchpin Eazy-e’s Ruthless Records). But witnessing an incendiary Body Count live show sparked something in her. “Seeing Ice-t, who was a hardcore gangster rapper, rock with a heavy band backing him really spoke to me. Loudly,” she says.
When she told her manager and label that she wanted to form a raprock band, they shut her down. She responded by refusing to finish the album she was working on, firing her manager and eventually extricating herself from her contract with Eazy-e.
This iron-willed determination to do things her way was embedded deep in Manhole’s DNA. Early on, Tairrie organised Rock For Choice gigs and benefits to raise awareness of violence against women. When potential record labels asked her to tone down her lyrical content and take-no-prisoners stage persona, she refused.
“I was not Gwen Stefani and our songs were not radio-friendly in the usual way,” she says. “My guys were from Venice [Beach, gang-heavy LA neighbourhood], they were tough. I was kinda scary. We had no desire to be another Hollywood band playing watered down pop-rock songs or a freakshow like Coal Chamber, for fuck’s sake. That was not us.”
German label Noise Records signed Manhole and put them in the studio with Korn producer Ross Robinson to record their debut album, 1996’s All Is Not Well. For once Robinson fluffed his task, though a flat production job couldn’t hide the power of Manhole’s music – and certainly not the impact of Tairrie’s message on tracks such as the anti-rape broadside Victim, and Cycle Of Violence, inspired by the singer’s own experiences of an abusive relationship. They were uncomfortable subjects, but that was the point. “I was outspoken about many hard truths in unflinching detail because I felt these were serious subjects that needed to be addressed.”
All Is Not Well chimed with the emerging nu metal movement, and the UK and Europe embraced them. But they were blindsided the following year when a lesser-known punk band also called Manhole threatened to sue unless they either bought the name from them or changed it. Unable to buy the name, the singer rebranded her band.
“I WAS NOT GWEN STEFANI”
TAIRRIE B
At least she picked a cool name:
Tura Satana, after the star of Russ Meyer’s cult movie Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. “It was empowering to see this aggressive woman, kicking ass and taking no shit from the men around her,” says Tairrie. “She was my spirit animal and a badass babe.”
The band released one album as Tura Satana, 1997’s Relief Through Release, which dialled back the rap-rock in favour of a more metallic yet textured approach. It was a tremendous record, yet they struggled to make the jump to the next level commercially. “The label had constant distribution problems,” says Tairrie. “When a band is on highprofile tours, playing festivals and doing tons of press to promote their album but it can’t be found in the stores, that’s not the fault of the artist.”
By 1998, label problems plus personal issues within the fold had become insurmountable and Tairrie decided to end the band. “I was angry, but part of me was gutted because I had been working so hard to make things happen for us. It was very painful to walk away from it, but also a relief.”
Tairrie’s post-tura Satana career saw her put together My Ruin, where she was soon joined by guitarist, songwriting partner and future husband Mick Murphy. My Ruin released eight albums before the pair put it on standby mode in 2011. She’s not been idle since then, putting out two hip hop albums, 2015’s Vintage Curses and 2020’s Feminenergy, and working on a book.
Frustratingly, history has sidelined Tairrie and her bands to make way for the juggernaut that was nu metal, and bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit. “I could give a fuck about bands like Limp Bizkit,” she says.
“I’ve never viewed Fred Durst as my contemporary. Manhole and Tura Satana both got lumped into the whole ‘nu metal’ thing. We were our own unique entity.”
Even beyond genre definitions, Tairrie deserves wider attention and respect for the ground she broke in the 90s. “I think I can confidently say that I kicked down a few doors for women in rock to walk through, just like the women did who came before me,” she says. “Empowered women empower women and we can be whatever we want to be.” LISTEN TO: Eternalux (Relief Through Release, 1997)
DEATH SS
One glance at a Death SS promo shot confirms how committed these Italian eccentrics were to pushing horror aesthetics in metal further, harder and more obsessively than any band before or since. Formed in 1977, led by Steve Sylvester’s possessed rasp and the orgiastic guitar of Paul Chain, the mysterious bandmates presented themselves as Death, The Vampire, The Zombie, The Mummy and The Werewolf, pushing metal’s occult flirtation to the extreme with their own weird, creepy style on 80s underground classics like Horned God Of The Witches and Evil Metal; no wonder Tobias
Forge keenly professes their influence on Ghost. LISTEN TO: Heavy Demons (Heavy Demons, 1991)
NECROPHAGIST
With just two stunning albums (Onset Of Putrefaction in 1999 and Epitaph in 2004), Germany’s Necrophagist helped lay down the blueprint for death metal in the 21st century. Technically dazzling, fiendishly inventive and heroically heavy, the band’s aptly titled second and final effort had the underground salivating and gave countless bands plenty of ideas to plunder for years to come. Given no official statement of their demise has ever emerged since they last played in 2010, fans have feverishly speculated that a third album might be in the works or even finished. Sadly, the reclusiveness of perfectionist mastermind Muhammed Suiçmez has merely added an air of mystery and meant that any reappearance remains a rumour. LISTEN TO: Stabwound (Epitaph, 2004)
CONFESSOR
Formed in 1986, this doomy crew from North Carolina split opinion like blue cheese and Brussels sprouts. Fronted by vocalist Scott Jeffreys, whose despairing, ear-piercing caterwauls rivalled the Die Hard franchise for potential glass breakages, Confessor’s complex, stop-start creations baffled a multitude of less resilient listeners, as drummer Steve Shelton’s fondness for fitful rhythmical jerks over steady beats reinforced an alienating rep. The band collapsed under the weight of their own musical ambition after releasing their heavy-ass debut album, Condemned, in 1991, only getting back together after the death of guitarist Ivan Colon in 2002.
Scott now broadcasts on serener frequencies, but metal continues to play catch-up to Confessor’s stillcuriously delirious art. LISTEN TO: Collapse Into Despair (Condemned, 1991)
PAINKILLER
Featuring the exploratory talents of John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris, Painkiller ran John’s thrashjazz ensemble Naked City towards darker and noisier territories. Their debut album, Guts Of A Virgin, and follow-up EP, Buried Secrets, combined John’s harsh sax bleating, Mick’s final associations with the grindcore and death metal beats he pioneered in Napalm Death, and Bill holding it together with a fat bass that somehow managed to veer into dub slinkiness. No sensibilities were spared as UK authorities found themselves rankled by Guts…’ original ‘obscene’ cover art, while fans found themselves overwhelmed by violent noise and the projection of violent imagery during their live shows. LISTEN TO: Scud Attack (Guts Of A Virgin, 1991)
GOD
Almost everything about this British avant-noise troupe was blasphemous.
The first and obvious strike was their moniker. Next, the bastardisation and inflation of the parameters of ‘musical ensemble’, then the thematic exploration of the already-scarred underbelly of addiction, sexuality, religion and various combinations thereof. Band leader Kevin Martin, who has since found fame as The
Bug, curated a ribald and palpitating factory-floor groove with the help of a lineup that often included two drummers, two bass players, three guitars, a wall of saxophones, woodwinds, samplers and whatever else was lying around. The result was some of the heaviest industrial metal/rock ever to displace organs. In Possession and The Anatomy Of Addiction, Martin and friends – a rotating cast that included Mark E. Smith (The Fall), Justin Broadrick (Godflesh), John Zorn, experimental horn blower Tim Hodgkinson, Alex Buess (16-17), Niko Wenner (Oxbow) and more - gifted two impeccable and thunderous full-lengths rooted in outsider art improv jams and chest-caving potency. LISTEN TO: On All Fours (The Anatomy Of Addiction, 1994)
YAKUZA
It’s only in our topsy-turvy world that the real Yakuza
– a ritualistic organised crime syndicate – has a higher profile than these wizards from Chicago, a jazz and world music-inspired/ avant-garde/doom/thrash outfit who originally trod the boards from 1999 to the mid-2010s. Better known in underground music nerd circles as the band that introduced saxophonist/ vocalist/guitarist Bruce Lamont (Bloodiest, Brain Tentacles) to the world, Yakuza always seemed destined for bigger things, but never failed to disrupt their own progress by deliberately becoming more and more musically impenetrable with each release. Their works, especially 2002’s Way Of The Dead and 2006’s Samsara, were embraced by outlets as diverse as
Terrorizer, Rolling Stone and the Chicago
Sun-times as they crushed the boundaries of metal, soared over the heads of the fanbase of tour mates Opeth, Lacuna Coil and The Dillinger Escape Plan, and proved they were way ahead of their time. LISTEN TO: Miami Device (Way Of The Dead, 2002)
PAGAN ALTAR
While their Black Sabbath-obsessed brethren Angel Witch and Witchfinder General released some of NWOBMH’S finest LPS, south London’s Pagan Altar only initially managed a selfreleased tape in 1982. However, their ominous, occult-steeped Hammer horror metal, centred around the father and son duo of Terry and Alan Jones, slowly (it is doom after all) spread with tape trading and helped shape the nascent doom metal scene throughout the late 80s and early
90s. Inspiring a small but fanatical fanbase (known as Templars), they then reunited in the 00s, with help from Solstice guitarist Rich Walker. With the original tape finally seeing a proper release, along with further new slabs of killer, 70s-flavoured doom, plus festival appearances across Europe and North America, Pagan Altar were finally starting to get their due when Terry Jones sadly passed away in 2015. Alan keeps the spirit alive with occasional appearances with Brendan Radigan (Magic Circle/the Rival Mob) doing Jones Senior’s legacy proud. LISTEN TO: Judgement Of the Dead (Judgement of The Dead, 1982)
THE YOUNG GODS
If Geneva’s The Young Gods aren’t more widely renowned, it’s only because their techno-primitive vision was so revolutionary, no one but them knew how to follow it through. Appearing like an cataclysmic fissure amidst the rock landscape, their self-titled debut album still sounds as startling and futuristic as it did 34 years ago, turning sampled metal riffs and classical music into a series of matter-meets-antimatter detonations. This was music to move mountains, at the command of frontman Franz Treichler, whose rich, elemental invocations sounded like the Doors’ Jim Morrison turned wild priest. Ecstatic, restless and still shamanic, TYG have never stopped evolving. From the vast, unstable terrain conjured up by 1989’s L’eau Rouge, through the rock-pulverising thrill rides of T.V. Sky and Only Heaven, to the by turns exhilarating and sensual electronica of their later albums, they remain a Promethean, life-changing entity, regularly name-checked and held in awe by metal and industrial artists alike. LISTEN TO: Envoyé! (The Young Gods, 1987)
LÄÄZ ROCKIT
In 2011, to celebrate their 30th anniversary as a band, Metallica hosted a four-night concert event in their hometown of San Francisco, with each night featuring different surprise openers. On the third evening, fans lost their collective shit when the openers turned out to be none other than Lääz Rockit. The Bay Area five-piece formed in 1982 and their late-80s releases saw them make a compelling case for the much-debated fifth spot after the Big 4 of thrash. They played with Metallica, Motörhead, Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus and even Slayer, who opened up for Lääz Rockit in 1984. But inconsistent output and a 1992 breakup would conspire to forever relegate the band to ‘local legend’ status. Still, 1989’s Annihilation Principle stands as one of the greatest thrash albums of all time, and a highly successful 2005 reunion established that there remained much love in the world for Lääz Rockit. LISTEN TO: Fire In The Hole (Annihilation Principle, 1988)
THE BLOOD BROTHERS
As the emo and post-hardcore boom of the mid-00s began to take over alternative culture, fans of the inventive, manic early version of the genre felt disenfranchised by the new corporate variant they were being spoon-fed. For many, Washington quintet The Blood Brothers provided some much-needed balance. With their third album, 2003’s …Burn, Piano Island, Burn, they gained a significantly larger platform thanks to production from nu metal overlord Ross Robinson. Not everyone got it, but for those who delighted in the unique and acquired taste of dual frontmen Johnny Whitney and Jordan Billie trading screaming chipmunk yelps over scratchy, Fugazi-style guitars, noise-rock freakouts and lyrics that read like serial killer beat poetry, The Blood Brothers became an obsession. The band reached their commercial and creative peak in 2006 with fifth album Young Machetes, before splitting up a year later to little fanfare from the mainstream, but sorrow from a devastated hardcore fanbase. Their influence can still be heard in the boundaryless melting pot of The Armed, or the scattergun blasts of Seeyouspacecowboy. LISTEN TO: Ambulance vs. Ambulance (…Burn, Piano Island, Burn, 2003)
REVEREND BIZARRE
In choosing to worship in the church of traditional doom, all signs pointed to Reverend Bizarre living a life of pious toil at the altar of the riff. But call it divine intervention or a deal with the devil: the band didn’t just succeed at championing doom metal in all of its occultflavoured glory – they excelled at it. Chart success in their native Finland on Crush The Insects and swansong III: So Long Suckers was undoubtedly impressive, but even more amazing was the band’s ability to turn a 16-minute dirge (Teutonic Witch) into a chart-topping single. Less successful outside their home country, the band nonetheless earned reverence from those lucky few who bore witness to their enthralling combination of traditionalism and theatricality. Displaced from time, Reverend Bizarre came too late for the 90s doom-boom, but too early to enjoy the fruits of the 2010s occult rock revival. Even so, Reverend Bizarre skulked so Ghost could loom. LISTEN TO: Teutonic Witch (III: So Long Suckers, 2007)
WARRIOR SOUL
Warrior Soul are the greatest band no one ever gave a fuck about despite having every single thing going for them: an arsenal of killer early 90s alt-metal anthems, the muscle of Metallica’s management behind them and a fireball of charisma for a frontman. Kory Clarke was a new kind of metal idol: literate, furious, sarcastic and surreal, like William Burroughs in a second-hand biker jacket. He wrote songs that eviscerated America (Ghetto Nation), celebrated party drugs (Trippin’ On Ecstasy) and excoriated Donald Trump decades before everyone else
(The Wasteland). Seriously, stick a pin in the tracklisting of any of the first four Warrior Soul albums and you’re guaranteed a stone cold classic. But a loudmouth punk shitting on his own doorstep wasn’t going to win any friends, and America threw the perfect shade by completely ignoring him. Kory Clarke took the hint and eventually retooled Warrior Soul as an apocalyptic biker bar party band. Nobody gave a fuck about them then either. LISTEN TO: The Wasteland (Drugs, God And The New Republic, 1991)
O.L.D.
Starting out as Old Lady Drivers – a primitive grindcore parody with alarmingly obsessive geriatric fixations – these New Jersey weirdos momentarily hooked up with former Nirvana/soundgarden guitarist Jason Everman before going fully gonzo under the O.L.D. moniker. Principally the brainchild of James Plotkin (guitars, programming) and Alan Dubin (vocals), the project lingered on the Earache label like a cankerous sore, pumping out occasional bouts of brain-frying industrial spew (try to imagine a kaleidoscopic Godflesh buzzing on a sugar rush). Albums such as Lo Flux Tube (1991) and The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak (1993) – the latter boasting the marvellously-titled Backwards Through The Greedo Compressor
– heralded inspired descents into more perplexing experiments, before O.L.D.’S career-high kiss-off, 1995’s Formula, finally drew a line under the spiralling madness. A bewildering dose of alien electro-pop drizzled with vocoder-processed entreaties, this last hoorah was the fittingly freaky full-stop to a flagrantly confusing existence. LISTEN TO: Freak Now (The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak, 1993)
VIDEODRONE
Videodrone were the band Korn could have been. They grew up alongside each other in Bakersfield, California, and Videodrone singer Ty Elam had been involved with Jonathan Davis’ pre-korn outfit, Sexart. The big difference is that Korn founded a genre and sold millions of records and Videodrone… well, who the hell knows who they are these days? They had already released a bunch of gothy, industrial-tinged albums as Cradle Of Thorns by the time they signed to Korn’s Elementree label. With a change of name came a change in sound: a glitchy, synth-pop influenced take on nu metal, as embodied by the terrific single Ty Jonathan Down, which featured a guest appearance from JD and crackled with homoerotic tension. Videodrone put out an album, the public refused to bite, and they disappeared back into the Bakersfield shadows. Today, their biggest gift to the world is Jonathan Davis’s jerkymarionette dancing, which he copped from Ty Elam early on. Guess that‘s better than nothing. LISTEN TO: Ty Jonathan Down (Videodrone, 1999)
HUMAN WASTE PROJECT
Nu metal didn’t happen all at once. Even before its commercial peak at the turn of the millennium, dozens of long-forgotten bands had already come and gone. Some were great, some were awful, and all of them have been lost down the back of the sofa of history. Los Angeles’ Human Waste Project were one of the great ones. They received the nu metal papal blessing courtesy of Ross Robinson, who produced their sole album,
1997’s E-lux, but real star of the show was electrifying singer Aimee Echo, whose distinctive voice wrapped itself around a sound that owed as much to the shapeshifting art-rock of Jane’s Addiction as it did Faith No More and Rage Against The Machine’s gonadswinging thwunk. Human Waste Project blipped out of existence in 1998, just before the nu metal gravy train left the station. They’re more than just a great lost band – they were proof there was more to that scene than bros in baggy pants and wallet chains. These days Aimee Echo is busy teaching yoga in Los Angeles. Healthy living’s gain is definitely rock’n’roll’s loss. LISTEN TO: Dog (E-lux, 1997)