UNSIGNED AND UNHOLY: HELLTRAIN, BURWEED, ZELLIAK

This week’s edition of Unsigned & Unholy is one of the strongest yet! I love all the unsigned bands I’ve featured here like parents love their children — all equally! — but these three bands are all can’t-miss and I think you’re gonna lurv ’em.

• Burweed: Burweed aren’t necessarily doing anything all that original, but their big, burly/weedy (Burweedy!) Mastodonian riffs are really catchy, and their Finnish blood gives rise to some cool, doomy guitar atmospherics making this band stand out from the pack. Their songs aren’t embeddable, but you can stream four of them here.
• Helltrain: A straight ahead, four-on-the-floor version of Children of Bodom without the over-the-top keys or shred, self-described as “deathpunk.” If the driving intro to opening track “Juggernaut” doesn’t grab you right away the chorus most certainly will, and every song thereafter follows the same pattern — REALLY catchy stuff!

• Zelliack: Ex-TesseracT singer Elliot Coleman’s soul/R&B side project with Zack Ordway, his pal from his other band Sky Eats Airplane. The music has nothing to do with metal, but it’s great stuff.

-VN