DEC. 19th issue

Sicinside, "This Long Year" (myspace.com/sicinside): Like Arch Enemy growler Angela Gossow, Sicinside frontwoman Sarah possesses an androgynous, intimidating voice that sounds like a sack of pit bulls being fed into a woodchipper.

This is a good thing, if you're into blackened, raw-lunged thrash that blends touches of melodic death-metal with brittle metalcore to form the aural equivalent of a pile of cinder blocks.

Mercifully, Sarah can sing, too, and she peppers her band's clenched-fist outbursts with clean melodies that leaven all the dual-guitar fireworks, concussive double-bass drumming and occasional breakdowns.

This one leaves welts.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Dec-19-Tue-2006/living/11383918.html