La Gritona

Most metal fans won't recall the name La Gritona. They will, however, know the names Dana Embrose and Keelhaul. The connection? Were it not for Boston, MA-based avant-metal brigade La Gritona, we wouldn't have the legacy that is the 'Haul or Anodyne, for that matter. Celebrating their horrifically overlooked and unusual welding of divergent influences, such as early L.A. hardcore, Swans-ish experimentation, technical metal akin to VoiVod and beastly, Melvins-adoring noise, this eponymous double-disc offers up 41 tracks that range from intimidating to downright scary, but continually electrify. Even over a decade after their dissolution, as La Gritona proves, the way in which this act churned out lumbering riffs and half-time chugs juxtaposed with unconventional progressions and beats, gritty punk (best demonstrated during an outright greasy cover of Black Flag's "Police Story"), staccato time signatures and oddball attacks Sonic Youth would have scratched their chins at are both timeless and far more influential than they have heretofore been accredited.