Behold the number of the beast, 666, the latest addition to Into the Void, which condemns six albums in 66 words or less. Entering the inferno for this inaugural edition is a handful of albums that somehow came into my possession during the chaos of SXSW.
Earthless
Sonic Prayer (Gravity)
San Diego’s Earthless saved the day during Vice’s annual Eastside block party. For 40 minutes this trio killed with an improvised metal jam led by the scorching guitar noodling of Isaiah Mitchell. Sonic Prayer resembles Austin’s Tia Carrera, but these two tripped-out, 20-minute excursions lack both the sense of structure and an interesting rhythm section.
Totimoshi
Ladrón (Crucial Blast/Volcom)
Though less innovative and charismatic, Oakland, Calif.-based trio Totimoshi comes across like the Latino version of the Melvins. Led by Antonio Aguilar’s wall of sludge and accentuated by Meg Castellanos’ thick bass riffs and harmonies, the group’s third album, Ladrón, produced by Helmet’s Page Hamilton, scores when it goes epic, like the album’s opening namesake and the violin-scarred instrumental “The Drunken Sun Forever Watching.”
Earl Greyhound
Soft Targets (Some)
Earl Greyhound can be considered heavy metal only through a Seventies mindset, but the trio certainly looks the part. Kamara Thomas has the sexy ‘fro and delivers bass lines that go down like brown sugar as she grinds to Big Ricc Sheridan’s thunderous percussion, aided by the largest damn kick drum ever created. Unfortunately, guitarist and vocalist Matt Whyte has trouble keeping up.
Tusk
Get Ready (Hewhocorrupts)
Featuring three members of Pelican, Chicago’s Tusk takes that band’s monolithic sound and feeds it to a garbage disposal, resulting in a cacophonous mixture of grind and metal dragged down by the bestial grunts of Jody Minnoch. This reissue, which features artwork by Isis frontman Aaron Turner, comes with a seven-song live set that’s absolutely brutal.
Zozobra
Harmonic Tremors (Hydra Head)
Proving the parts were undoubtedly greater than the whole, the frontline of Boston’s Cave In has diverged into a trio of reputable new bands: Clouds, Stephen Brodsky’s Octave Museum, and Zozobra. Harmonic Tremors is Zozobra’s debut, led by Cave In bassist Caleb Scofield, and it unleashes “Invisible Wolves” into an atmospheric den of gloom metal.
Hella
There’s No 666 in Outer Space (Ipecac)
Exhausted with their limitations as a noise-rock duo, Zach Hill (drums) and Spencer Seim (guitar) expanded to a quintet for this Ipecac debut. While the lineup change allows the band to take their experimental math rock to new heights, at times it sounds like the Mars Volta suffering space dementia thanks to the high-pitched shrieks of newbie Aaron Ross.
This article appears in March 30 • 2007.