Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

Those who thought the Mars Volta was complex and strange will probably feel even more challenged by Zechs Marquise. Formed in 2003 by two brothers of Mars Volta co-founder Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and rounded out by two childhood friends, Zechs Marquise walks a similarly impressionistic path — not surprising, considering that...

On the title track of Cattle ­Decapitation's 2004 album Humanure, vocalist Travis Ryan growls the line "Here's to your health." But don't get the wrong impression, as he isn't exactly ­trying to foster a warm and fuzzy feeling. In the same song, he invites the listener to "defecate upon the...

On Combichrist's fourth and latest album, Today We Are All Demons, mastermind Andy LaPlegua effectively ups the ante on the tried and true ­answering-machine intro. An unfortunate soul is on his way to jail on a concealed-­weapons charge; his girlfriend, meanwhile, is in the hospital after swallowing a bottle of...

Metallica didn't commit its biggest sin when it exposed its dirty laundry in gory, self-indulgent detail in the 2003 film Some Kind of Monster. No — Metallica disgraced itself 12 years earlier on the wretched "Black Album" (Metallica), when the Bay Area quartet abandoned the thrash-metal art form it helped...

"Post-rock" may not be the most ridiculous descriptor in contemporary music; I'd cast my vote for either "sadcore" or "neo-prog." Still, the term means next to nothing when it's applied to a band like Russian Circles, which co-stars on this roster with Daughters. On 2006's Enter and the just issued...