Erebus

Erebus plays a different type of "heavy" metal. Well, actually, their mix of death, thrash, crunchy, pounding, midpaced aggropunkmetal does fulfill the definition of heavy. However, it's heavy in the department of ideas, too: there are not that many metal bands in the U.S. bothering to write lyrics that tackle social issues this directly, like consumerism, the war in Iraq, the government, religion and military interventionism, among other things.

It's refreshing to read lyrics that are not so self-centered and based on private emotions. Erebus is a bit like reading the news, except that Erebus is more like an angry broadcaster commenting on the reasons for the war in Iraq or the emphasis on buying useless crap. Also, it's not really about being "vague," but more like in-your-face and finding a comprehensible way to get the point across. To the music: the vocals can be guttural, death metal-like, angrily shouted and sarcastic. The guitar on occasion will have a bit of melody, but it's never too much, but more like the brick-falling-on-your-toes method; mosh-friendly or violence-friendly, sort of approach. Actually, Erebus has the feel of heavy punk band, too.