CMJ Music Marathon 2008 Day 3: Tombs

Implementing more into their sound than just metal influences, these guys find glory in the use of guitar pedals to design their sound, building thrashing power chords into layers of hell-infused volume. Drummer Dale Nixon fills more space than I think I’ve ever seen anyone fill with a kit that minimal—the perfect metal drummer. Being Brooklyn residents, they had one of the larger crowds of the night and everyone was left in some kind of volume-induced trance. After the set, there was no way you could talk to the person next to you or even communicate with the bar tender unless you physically pointed to whatever you wanted.

—John Bohannon