Mouth of the Architect w/ Northless and Enabler

Incorporating cerebral keys, tortured guitar delay and literary spoken-word passages, Dayton, Ohio’s Mouth of the Architect avoid metal’s stereotypical, nihilistic malaise, and in doing so has earned a prestigious buzz in underground metal circles. As if to further distance themselves from metal clichés, the group titled their 2008 album Quietly, its title on the album cover typed in an eloquent cursive font instead of the usual doom-and-gloom gothic lettering. The group’s new EP The Violence Beneath is typically varied, balancing aggressive sludge metal with prettier passages. It includes an unlikely cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.”