Review: The Lost Well: Rock for Rent Vol. 1

Is there any image more representative of underground rock & roll than a grimy steel urinal, plastered with dozens of punk and metal band stickers? The Lost Well's Tetris-piece piss trough, brimming with a fresh load of glistening ice cubes, opens as the gatefold photo supreme gracing the deafening dive's new vinyl comp. While the stickers themselves could serve as a solid primer on the venue's resident scene – or at lease those daring enough to touch an extremely unsanitary surface for self-promotion – I'd recommend buying this silver vinyl, available at the bar, instead.

J Bybee's guitar, a squiggling, swooping, symphony of sonic space debris, serves as the nine-track compilation's opening ceremony before Sabbath Crow's tombstone-tumbling rhythms fortify for the barking "Bug Out." Later, Nathan Calhoun's too-apathetic-to-sing nihilism counterintuitively conjures inspiration on heavy noise trio We Are the Asteroid's lurching "Nothing." These impressively recorded live takes were captured by John Petri, who did yeoman's work hosting 35 livestreams over seven months to help fundraise toward the Lost Well's pandemic rent. Petri also holds throne in crusty D-beat/death metal crew Ungreived, who assail an oppressive nation with highlight cut "United States of Dysphoria," directly preceeding some honky-tonk blasphemy – the Beaumont's "Burn 'em Down" – and the campy, sci-fi, groove-punk climax "Scaly Face Eater" from All Monsters Attack. A live time capsule of punk, metal, hardcore, grind, country, and rock in a pandemic.

Update: a previous version of this story mistakenly attributed the a vocal part, lovingly described as "too-apathetic-to-sing nihilism," on a recording of We Are the Asteroid's song "Nothing" to singer/guitarist Gary Chester when it was actually the voice of bassist/vocalist Nathan Calhoun. We regret this error.