Meatlocker Seven

A shockingly professional piece of independent metal from Victoria, the sophomore release from this long-running band will no doubt raise a few eyebrows in the big metal leagues. It's hard to not just dwell on the wonderful, thick, damn near perfect production sound, but the tunes themselves prove to be instantly memorable. Musically, ML7 tend to walk a fine line between mid-tempo thrash and death metal lite, but what makes the band is their merciless flirtations with groove within their songs. The lack of being able to put a finger on their sound may be more of a distraction than an asset, but everything considered, that's not too bad. Refreshing to hear an indie release that walks all over what a lot of today's metal labels are pushing.