A Very Loud Death Do the Lurch

Atlanta trio A Very Loud Death – Bryan Peel, Chris Edge, Cole Robertson – contrast booming hard rock with twistier, trickier elements that lend a significantly more curious quality to their music.

Their captivating track “Zoetrope” off their newest digital EP (or LP, or whatever’s in between), Ulimatique (available through their bandcamp page), might’ve earned them a spot on the “Locals Only” stage at Music Midtown if they’d been around back in the mid-1990s. The release’s other five songs straddle dark and light, subtlety and bombast, cling and clang, but as a whole suffer from an overdose of downbeat drama. To quote an ancient song that was anything but, they’re kind of a drag.