Akimbo

Ignoring the metal parodying visuals and title (yes, we get it, metal is funny and infinitely open to ridicule, wow, no one has ever done that before…) and you’re in for much crushing heaviness on Akimbo’s fourth record (they’ve got eight years in the game) and first for Alternative Tentacles, which is unquestionably metallic genius. From Seattle, it should be no surprise that the precise imprecise machinations of Botch play a role in Akimbo’s sonic stance, as do the Blood Brothers (if they listened to Sabbath instead of whatever they actually listen to). Forging Steel is a metal record though, impacting with the aforementioned "Sabbathian” density while showing Mastodon how it should be done without resorting to metallic cheese musically, if not visually. The doom/spazz rock dogfight continues and gets a little Southern as the record ventures slightly away from its jagged rock/core base, recalling sludge stalwarts Isis (Celestial era), while never abandoning the thrill kill mentality of the still sorely missed Jesus Lizard and their musical co-conspirators (the National Acrobat, Ink & Dagger, the Kittens, etc.). Don’t overlook this because of initial negative first impressions visually, or the fact that AT isn’t traditionally a "metal” label.