CMJ's Hottest Bands: 10 Buzz-Worthy Breakouts

Bison B.C.

If Mastodon had spent more time listening to Anthrax, they might sound like Vancouver's Bison B.C. At the Knitting Factory's Tap Bar on Thursday night, the quartet fronted by bearded shouters/guitarists James Farwell and Dan And, mixed the speed and riffing of thrash with the low-range crunch of Southern-fried boogie metal, switching from half-time quarter-note thumps to dead sprints without warning, but always with a certain joyful bounce. Any intended evilness was betrayed by bassist Masa Anzai, who couldn't lose his enormous grin while pounding his three-string instrument. Bison thundered through a half-hour's worth of cuts from their debut, Quiet Earth, including the six-minute instrumental opus "Medication" and the stampede of "Primal Emptiness of Outer Space." Heavy, man. Real heavy. Jean-jacket heavy.
CHRIS STEFFEN

Listen Here: "Slow Hand of Death"