Last elevated locally on the drum riser in Power Trip during a November Sound on Sound Fest make-up show headlined by tour mates Cannibal Corpse, Chris Ulsh drives the Dallas thrash unit at peak ramming speed 200 shows a year. Somewhat miraculously, then, between their breakout 2013 bow Manifest Decimation and 2017’s Nightmare Logic, the local Houston native eked out enough studio time to cut a fourth full-length with Austin metalcore trio Mammoth Grinder, which he leads from the front microphone. Cosmic Crypt boosts the hardcore punk tempos and death metal riffs of its three predecessors.: “I learned a little more about production this time, or how to get the sounds out of a studio that I hear in my head,” offers Ulsh. “The other two records [for Relapse Records], we’d have a tour coming up and I’d be pressured to make sure it was ready. Especially with Extinction, we didn’t have enough money for another day in the studio, and the day I had to record vocals my voice was pretty much shot.”: Punk kid or a metalhead?: “I had a separate punk and metal journey when I was young, but if I had to pick one, I’d say I was a punk kid, because that was the music that made me realize I could play this song if I picked up a guitar. I didn’t think that when I listened to Slayer.”: Ulsh laughs – amiable, self-effacing, 24/7 singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer for Hatred Surge, the Impalers, you name it.: “[Mammoth Grinder] was always personal, because this was my high school band,” he told Decibel this year. “There were so many times I should’ve put it down, but picked it back up because I was so critical of our old material. I wanted to outdo the last thing we did.”
Sat., Feb. 10, 9pm