Chopper

Are you into wizards on motorcycles, mythical beasts and kung fu action? If so, Chopper's KVLT AS FVCK 7-inch will kick you like a bionic roundhouse to the face! Jokes aside, it's hard to tell where the trio – guitarist/vocalist George Asimakos (formerly of Blame Game), bassist Collin Mee (Deerhunter) and drummer Lamar George – draws the line between cheese and real metal muscle. On the A-side of this three-song single, "Rolling Thvnder" is a cluster of chugs and chants that would make excellent theme music for a new generation of Transformers or ThunderCats.

On the flip side, "Oblivion to Thunderdome" and "Born to Loose" are noise-metal mantras of rhythm and dirge. Throw Unsane, Motorhead and Blue Öyster Cult into a blender and the outcome would sound like Chopper: too chaotic to be progressive and too hard to be fantasy metal. 3 stars