Slut Sister

Given the band/album name and cover image, I half-expected this band to sound like either cheesy '80s cock-rock throwbacks or raucous hardcore punk. It's neither. Although the band describes its music as "metal/hardcore/Southern rock" on its MySpace page, I'd say that description's only about two-thirds accurate. It's definitely hardcore metal, but I'm not hearing the "Southern rock" aspects. I'd meet them halfway and say there's a heavy stoner-rock sound, as the songs brim with sludgy, down-tuned guitars. They've been compared nationally to Crowbar and locally to Northside Kings; I have no comparisons to make. I'll just say Slut Sister sounds epic and violent, but it's the lurching, creepy, stalk-you kind of malevolence, rather than the battering-ram-to-the-eardrums approach. Further surprising me, Slut Sister went to local studio wizard Bob Hoag (The Format, Limbeck) to produce the album (which explains the crispness and polish of the recordings). Hoag, who also drums for local garage-pop band The Breakup Society, isn't known for being a hardcore metal producer, but he earns a blue ribbon for his work on Raw Meat, which sounds just as burly and brutal as anything local metal knob-twister gurus Corey Spotts (Greeley Estates, Job for a Cowboy) or Larry Elyea (Eyes Set to Kill, Greenhaven) have produced. Standout tracks include the doomy "Cold Cut," which harks back to the days when Black Sabbath scared parents, and "Dank God," which is driven by tormented shrieking and chugging power chords.