10 bands who are too damn heavy for their own good
[Photo credit: Errick Easterday]
Some bands have absolutely no interest in turning the heaviness down. It's just a destructive wake—be it through massive riffs or horrifying soundscapes—until there's nothing left but the fragments of what you once called a skull. So why bother putting off the inevitable?
Here are a handful of great bands that'll leave you absolutely devastated.
Stomach Earth is the sound that you hear as the Earth begins to disintegrate into the cold vacuum of space and you realize you’re absolutely helpless. Of all the slow, doom-drenched bands to kick off this, Stomach Earth’s particular brand of nihilistic void-calling just feels right. It’s music that purposefully strides with a heavy foot and leaves nothing alive in its wake. —Greg Kennelty
I'm not sure how Trap Them does it, but everything the band does just bleeds chaos. Whether it's the driving punk anthem “The Facts” or the seven-minute bludgeon-fest “Savage Climbers,” Trap Them has a knack for making every single note, every damn hit of the drum and every vocal-shredding syllable feel like it's the most urgently bone-breaking sound you've ever heard in your entire life. —Greg Kennelty
Illinois power-violence kings Weekend Nachos will rip your face off and singe it back on with their relentlessly heavy breed of hardcore punk. Their final album,Apology, was released earlier this year. They are currently finishing out their time together as a band with tour dates across the globe. (And yes, they once did a song with Patrick Stump.) —Tyler Sharp
A major part of heaviness is the atmosphere surrounding it. If your music doesn’t rely on a barrage of riffs and breathless screams alone, how else can you convey a sense of claustrophobic dread and utter mayhem? The Dreaming I by Akyhls answers that question and then some. This record is fear incarnate, from the shrieking vocals and blasting, to the distorted static and hollow sounds of absolute torture. It’s a hell of a dark ride. —Greg Kennelty
In a recent studio video for Nails' album You Will Never Be One Of Us, frontman and guitarist Todd Jones sums up the band's music in one quote, “We just want to play heavy fucking punk metal… let's get in, let's fuck ’em up and let's get out. That's what Nails is.” Honestly, it's impossible to argue with that statement. Nails have three albums thus far and there's not one second of music from the band that doesn't inspire a burning, furious rage within. —Greg Kennelty
Nothing Sumac does moves quickly, and within those long halls of monolithic ruin sometimes lies bouts of emptiness and distant noises. Sumac perfectly marries 20-ton riffs capable of sinking a ship and dark ambient noise that feels constantly foreboding, as if something crushing is waiting right around the corner… because most of the time, it is. —Greg Kennelty
“What doesn’t kill me doesn’t make me stronger, it only makes this misery longer.” One listen to Blood & Ink band Joy and you’ll be overcome with an urge to spin-kick the nearest wall. Seriously, this band is the definition of heavy. —Tyler Sharp
Anaal Nathrakh’s album titles, song titles and whole public image just ooze with a hatred toward mankind. The band’s music sounds just as cold as its mantras, though their metronome in the studio appears to be unable to go below breakneck speeds. I suppose if you’re going to write about the eradication of everything, you damn well better make music that goes along with it. —Greg Kennelty
If you go for older Agoraphobic Nosebleed, you’ll be treated to impossibly fast grindcore that’ll likely shatter your eardrums within seconds. If you go for newer Agoraphobic Nosebleed, you’ll be treated to a mix of sludge and grindcore that still employs the trusty drum machine, though a versatile weapon rather than one with a bloody, blunt edge. Though it really doesn’t matter in the end—a random selection of any Agoraphobic Nosebleed song will likely light a fire under your ass. —Greg Kennelty
The legacy of Nasum guitarist and vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk will forever be one revered for its uncompromising heaviness and consistent quality. Nasum brought a whirlwind of apocalyptic winds to the masses from 1992 to 2005, and they never faltered in one-upping themselves. If you’re looking for a perfect grindcore catalogue, you’ve found it. —Greg Kennelty
