THIS IS THE ONLY TIME GETTING STRUCK BY LIGHTNING IS A GOOD THING

Stuck by Lightning‘s capital-“E” Evil sophomore effort, True Predation, has achieved a true feat: it’s likely to appeal to a wide range of tastes, but it isn’t the least bit polished or immersed in trends. Two years ago, our own Satan Rosenbloom described the band’s 2009 debut, Serpents, thusly:

“Struck By Lightning sound like Mastodon and High on Fire’s d-beat-crazy lovechild. Except when you’re listening to their debut record Serpents, you don’t think about the influences – you think about what a fucking kick-ass record it is.”

Brooklyn Vegan, who are streaming two new Struck by Lightning songs from the band’s forthcoming True Predation, notes a heightened black metal influence on the new material, which is also accurate — but I can’t imagine the adjustment will detract from the enjoyment of hardcore fans, death metal fans, or stoners. The band would seem just as at home on tour with Howl a tour with Converge or a tour with Skeletonwitch. Really, the only prerequisite for enjoying Struck by Lightning’s music would be liking songs that make you feel as though wild wolves are ripping you to death. And if that doesn’t sound appealing, well… didja hear that Nightwish and Kamelot are touring?

Please, please, please do yourself a favor and go to Brooklyn Vegan and check out the Struck by Lighting songs “Funereal” and “We Are All Just Rotting Corpses,” the latter of which is easily an early candidate for “Anthem of the Year.” Struck by Lightning’s True Predation comes April 24th on Translation Loss. You can pre-order it here.

-AR