Lazer/Wulf

The Beast of Left and Right (Retro Futurist)

Shutting up can be a boon for metal. Lazer/Wulf’s got the riff thing down stone cold. The Athens trio blazes away like a grinning Dysrhythmia without the Rush fixation. Six-stringer Bryan Aiken races across his fretboard with a jazzist’s brain, a rock & roll heart, and the joyous enthusiasm of a show host. Bassist Sean Peiffer and drummer Brad Rice ride the bull by his side. Vocals appear and disappear like ghosts in an old country house, but fingertip-frying ditties like “Beast Reality (Center Piece)” and the massive “Who Were the Mound Builders” rip and tear the loudest.

***.5

This article appears in June 27 • 2014.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.