Burning Love

Rotten Thing To Say (Southern Lord)

Burning Love stakes its claim in the fruitful land between Motor City punk, Northwest stoner rock, and British heavy metal. Produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, the Toronto quintet’s second full-length invites multiple moving violations with its screaming, slam-bang dynamic. Eschewing build-and-release, Rotten Thing To Say sprints out of the gate and never lets up. Chris Colohan provides a clinic on throat-shredding stamina as he bellows his way through tales of torture and doom, while guitarists Andrus Meret and Pat Marshall alternate between dual solos on the soaring “Superstitious Friend” and bring sheer heft to the disturbing serial killer saga “Karla.” “Made Out of Apes” shakes the chapel walls, and “Tremors” consummates Burning Love’s fealty for hardcore in 41 seconds. They may not be the loudest or fastest, but it’s rare to find such a potent, low-end distillation of all that’s alluring about angry noise. (Fri., Black stage, 12:30pm)

***.5 – Greg Beets

This article appears in November 2 • 2012.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.