Metal name, un-metal band
First impressions are increasingly important as bands try to capture the dwindling attention spans of music executives and consumers, and in most circumstances, a band’s name is the first thing you hear about them. In some genres (particularly metal), names can function as self-identification, straight-up saying this is what we are all about: Metallica. Belle And Sebastian. Slayer. Low. Anal Cunt. Air. Annihilator. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Extreme Noise Terror.
Names that evoke something scary or unpleasant do grab you by the brain stem, but they also create expectations of how the music is going to sound. In that respect, the following bands may have handicapped themselves—their names may be metal, but their sound, well, isn’t.
Regression
Regression has a nice, innocuous metal ring to it. In fact, there’s a Helsinki thrash metal band named Regression and there’s a group of shredders from Dublin named Vile Regression. But the one in question here—stopping by Project Lodge Dec. 4 with the similarly metal-sounding AIDS Wolf off-shoot Drainolith—is the solo project of Nate Young from Wolf Eyes, and it is definitely not metal. Young manipulates a wide range of experimental electronic sounds out of his set-up, releases weird vocal samples, and sometimes intones into the mic himself, making his Regression one designed to elicit a thoughtful (or puzzled) response, not head-banging and devil horns.
Death Vessel
Death Vessel, as a name, is totally metal. Hell, Frontman Joel Thibodeau is just a Mayhem shirt away from looking metal. The music? It is achingly un-metal. The instruments are largely acoustic, and the most common response to hearing a Death Vessel record is, “That’s a guy?” Thibodeau’s soprano range can be quite beautiful, particularly when draped over colorful American folk tunes, but it’s not exactly terrifying. He hasn’t put much out in the last few years, but recently went on tour opening for similarly un-intimidating Jónsi.
The Killers
While these guys apparently didn’t have what it takes to be the world’s biggest band, as Spin asked on a 2006 cover, they certainly have converted the masses to their saccharine-sweet, stadium-ready music. Their tunes have been bleeding into each other for over a decade, during which they’ve produced only three albums but a whopping 15 singles. It’s been so long that it’s hard to imagine a time when they weren’t doing that whole Queen thing. So despite the name and the creepiness of “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine,” there’s nothing to worry about here. Besides, Mr. Flowers has way too much plumage to risk being identified for murder.
Destroyer
In addition to the obvious “thing that will destroy you,” a destroyer is also a kind of warship, and we’re pretty sure that war is considered intimidating. But the band Destroyer is the evolution of a solo project started by songwriter, poet, and multi-instrumentalist Dan Bejar, better known as that dude in the New Pornographers who isn’t A.C. Newman. Destroyer has produced nearly twice the material of New Pornographers, though, and more aptly highlights Bejar’s ever-evolving sound, evocative poetics, and ultra-nasal voice that’s pretty much the opposite of intimidating. Also, “Canadian indie-pop band” doesn’t exactly strike a lot of fear into a lot of hearts.
Kill You In The Face
This one is admittedly two parts intimidating and one part goofy, as it originates half in Internet patois and half in passive-aggressive dislike of Quizzo. The South Philly crew makes playful, Tim Kinsella-brand ’90s emo that makes forays into Grandaddy-esque synth pop and jangly Pavement interludes. “Quirky” could be defined in opposition to “scary,” and if there are any doubts about where the band falls on that spectrum, you may want to point your attention to its EP, The Mighty Atlas, which was released as a USB drive that comes in the form of a hand-molded, hand-sanded, and hand-painted ray gun and “packaged in ’50s pulp art toy design.” Unique, yes; charming, perhaps; but it certainly doesn’t live up to the assertion of the band’s name.
