Very Metal

With a name like Very Metal, you may think you're in for some long hair and wailing guitar solos, but think again. This St. Louis quartet take their name from a character in the British TV show The Young Ones and play '80s-style hardcore. Admittedly, there is a slight metallic edge to the sound. The chanting sing-alongs on some of the tracks are right up the alley of your average Sick Of It All fan but these guys don't bludgeon you with that sort of thing the way some of the less sophisticated New York-area bands are wont to do. These 14 songs come in at a spare 23 minutes, with only a few over two minutes in length, so you know you're getting a compact burst of energy that won't tie you up for too long.