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California black-metal loner Xasthur, a.k.a. Scott Conner, emerged from relative obscurity with 2006's Subliminal Genocide, releasing an opus whose weird, shoegazey atmospheres impressed hipsters while its intensity earned the United States cred in a scene dominated by Europeans.

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Old Time Relijun's seventh album has its precedents: producer Calvin Johnson's trademark no-fi pop, the Cramps' sexed-up shockabilly, Captain Beefheart's gnarled jazz and R&B (OTR's name even references a Beefheart tune).

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Though still youthfully rabid at three albums old, these Houston miscreants easily could've sprung from the late-'80s pigfuck scene (Killdozer, Scratch Acid, Big Black). Thankfully, their tunes -- lumbering, treble-scarred shit-fits that are equal parts the Birthday Party and Fun House-era Stooges -- pack greater oomph than nostalgia acts usually manage.

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Holy Fuck play the sort of id-gripping dance rock that's best experienced in person -- and not just because the pulsing, kraut-rock-meets-D.C. go-go jams sound massive on a club PA. Eschewing laptops, programming, and rehearsals, HF improvise electronic music on (mostly) analog sources, including 35-millimeter film projectors and ancient keyboards.

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A Godzilla-size pileup of whiplash metalcore and Sunset Strip swagger, Avenged Sevenfold's 2005 major-label debut, City of Evil, won unexpected platinum status (aided by MTV's embrace of the stripper-friendly video for "Bat Country"), despite sounding like a social experiment gone haywire.

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As key as they are to emo's evolution, Saves the Day will always be linked to singer/guitarist/lone original member Chris Conley's identity crisis. He's led STD from their early days aping hardcore heroes Lifetime to the Beatles-tinged commercial flop of 2003's In Reverie to the present: a three-album conceptual saga about self-discovery. Installment No.