Meatjack

With every release over the past decade, Baltimore’s Meatjack have consistently been inducing hearing loss with their frenetic Keelhaul-ish noisecore. Much like their Cleveland counterparts in the ’Haul, Meatjack merge disparate elements of dual-vocalist hardcore, doom metal, and guitar rock into a heaving sludge of obvious influences. Luckily, the band chases their Keelhaul-ed templates with Slayer thrash ("50 Years”) and Spickle fretwork ("Cold Flight”) while cutting the bitter aftertaste with smoother offerings. The ebbing "Sea of Tranquility” pits Tool against the Allman Brothers, and the largely acoustic "Blue” resembles the heavier side of the California guitar trio before erupting in the brief scream fest ".45.” The 13-minute "Crawl” mixes the doomy outlook of Isis with the Eastern guitar tones of Revolver-era Beatles. After a 1999 debut album and splits with Bongzilla, Damad, and Superhighway Carfire, Days of Fire may be too close to Keelhaul in a structural sense, though the band does thank Keelhaul/Craw drummer Will Scharf for his contributions, whatever those might have been.