The release of Yautja’s long-gestating album The Lurch in May on Relapse Records clued the world into what in-the-loop heavy-music followers have known for some time: The trio of bassist-vocalist Kayhan Vaziri, guitarist Shibby Poole and drummer Tyler Coburn, which splits time between Nashville and Birmingham, Ala., is an absolute force. The LP, tracked at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, artfully captures Yautja’s visceral crust-grind-doom amalgam with razor-sharp performances and stark, powerful recordings of “Undesirables” — which has been kicking around set lists since 2016 — and eight other crushers, amounting to one of the strongest metal albums ever made by a Music City band.
Best Metal Band
Yautja
Yautja at Exit/In, 6/19/2021
