Exclusive Track Premiere: Expander, “H.E.L.L.B.O.O.T.”

This past summer, the editors of MetalSucks hand-picked ten unsigned bands from an open application process to record at Converse Rubber Tracks — Converse’s completely free, state-of-the-art recording studio — in either Brooklyn, NY with producer Will Putney (The Acacia Strain, Suicide Silence, Exhumed), or Boston, MA, with producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, High on Fire, Torche). In the weeks leading up to the recording sessions, we previewed each band, and in the coming weeks we’ll be premiering the finished tracks from all ten! Today, we feature Expander from Austin, TX.

When we previewed Expander in advance of their recording sessions we wondered aloud whether the band’s own description of “beefy punk/metal” referred to their riffs or their physiques and personalities. Having spent a day with Expander at the Converse Rubber Tracks facility in Boston, I can confidently say that the answer is BOTH.

To start: the dudes. Absolute peaches! Nicest guys ever, polite and courteous. And they’re all super-sexy hunks, too.

But you can’t stream hunks over the Internet, so you probably care more about the riffs, right? Thankfully Expander — together with Kurt Ballou behind the boards — kicked out some undoubtedly meaty jams. These Austinites were able to make the most of their day by recording two full tracks; we’re incredibly stoked to premiere “H.E.L.L.B.O.O.T.” below, which will appear together with the other Ballou-recorded tune on a 7″ to be released in the near future. That’s the killer artwork below, done up by Raúl González, who has done work for Horrendous, Morbis Chron, Master and more.

This is big boy metal with big boy, boots-in-your-face riffs and a propulsive, freight train-like rhythm section… so strap yourself in and press play. Enjoy.