Noothgrush

Depending on the view du jour of whether the Internet has either helped or hindered the metal scene, it's certainly brought the formally deceased Noothgrush a modern audience. Until their break-up in 2001, this doom act from San Jose, CA were almost strictly a vinyl-only band, releasing an armload of split seven-inches and two CD compilations. Their website has kept the dream alive ever since, with the band finally reuniting this past summer for select shows. Live for Nothing compiles two live radio broadcasts from the late '90s, chronicling their early Star Wars obsession to their later, Dystopia-like sludgeophilia. Though it doesn't include the Star Wars sample-laden "Alderaan" and "Imperial March" (probably due to copyright infringements), the 1996 KZSU session spotlights the band's George Lucas reverence ― "Sith," "Dianoga," "Evazan," "Jundland Wastes" and other tracks explore long-form sludge, including a solid cover of Celtic Frost's "Procreation of the Wicked." The 1999 KFJC session leans more towards relatively upbeat tunes ― the Eyehategod-like "Derrell's Porno Song" and the more experimental "Flee from Hunger and Disease." "Starvation," "A People Defeated" and "Useless" are pure Grief worship, and all tracks feature one of metal's few female drummers, Chiyo Nukaga (Amber Asylum, Graves at Sea), whose cavernous drums share the same tonal quality as Winter. Criminally underappreciated in their heyday, Noothgrush are finally getting their due.