Mammoth Grinder

Rage and Ruin (Depleted Resource)

Changing metallic speeds with precision, from a Birmingham lumber to a lightning ride, Austin’s Mammoth Grinder battens down an exacting bellow. Snaking under the local trio’s rhythm pummel, guitarist Chris Ulsh’s moto-metal drag-stripping – classic and modern in the same fluid downstroke of Brian Boeckman’s demon-fast drum rolls and the splattered basslines of Chris Camp – proves the titanium spine of this thrashing beast. The exhaling flail of starter pistol-whipping “Two More Classes Until Blackout Weekend” segues directly into the expulsive furor of “Iron Pigs” (“You’ve got the bite of a lion, but no fucking pride”). “Voice of Rage and Ruin” also shifts smoothly in tone and speed with Hummer gravitas. Side two of this marble-colored vinyl, which also comes in crimson-drenched cassette, dominates with the no-quarter charge of epic “Dead Rednecks,” sandwiching theological quandary “God Is Stuck in a Black Hole” with the closing doom glower of “Curse Breeder.” Rage and mofo Ruin.

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This article appears in August 1 • 2008.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.