Giantkiller

 If you're playing the six degrees of separation game with local heavy rock, you're about six degrees surplus whenever the talk turns to Larry Elyea. No kidding, he's the inescapable Kevin Bacon -- anything that's local, loud, has tats and a Marshall stack, Elyea had a hand in it, producing it from his renowned studio, Mind's Eye Digital. That's why Giantkiller, the first word from Elyea as a recording artist and performer since his days in Bionic Jive, was hotly anticipated. And Giantkiller does not disappoint, delivering the kind of expansive atmospheric rock you get from The Deftones, an all-encompassing sound that often feels as if a truly impressive black cloud is hovering over you and feeding off your energy. To achieve these difficult physics, he's stitched together a Frankenstein of a supergroup, handpicked from all the various bands he's recorded -- players like former Fivespeed lead singer Jared Woosley (Resist the Embrace), Brian Smyth (The Gift), and drummer Chris Alvarez, who has kept time for everyone from Sons of Serro to Soul Grind to Bombshelter Djs to The Buddy Rich Big Band to Vic Masters. A band with two Kevin Bacons? Even the Bacon Brothers don't boast that kind of omnipresence! -- Serene Dominic/PHOENIX NEW TIMES JUNE 17th