Metallurgy

Austin's Southern Front serves up brutality with a smile on its latest EP. The title track thrashes violently enough to rend flesh and slaughter souls, but by the time the local quintet rants about a "Beerzerker," goofy grins sit alongside popping eyes and flying fingers. With a chorus one-half social protest and the other Dada verse, "Pig For Nail" splits the difference with a bloody hatchet.