The Best Band In Tennessee Is Forest Of Tygers
Back in August 2014 we asked you to help us find the best unsigned bands in America. After listening to hundreds of submissions and extended arguments about which bands could most effectively best Joe and his freakishly small hands in mortal combat, we finally narrowed down our pick for the Chet Atkinsest state in the union. The best band in Tennessee is Forest Of Tygers.
Forest Of Tygers is a two-human project operating from within the famed music mecca of the North American continent, Nashville, the “Home of Country Music”. Nashville (along with it’s sister city in Tennessee, Memphis) is also rife with a strong metal scene, so strong we had a hard time choosing from the many stellar acts we found therein.
For the voting committee, Forest of Tygers separated themselves from the pack with just how ferocious they are. They embrace a sparse, slightly lo-fi sound whose aesthetics border upon raw black metal, so you can’t help but hear every string pluck and drum thwap. There is nowhere to hide for either the performer or listener, so intimacy is inevitable. Forest of Tygers takes advantage of this intimacy to grapple with the listener, dragging us ever deeper into their world of shredding, blackened hardcore.
The four tracks comprising Forest Of Tygers’ debut release Bruises simply aren’t enough. They move so nimbly within their aesthetic parameters that they leave me craving for another take, another nimble guitar lead contrasted with overwhelming tremelo-picked chords, another fiery vocal blast, and yet another paean to both anger and sadness.
Some notes from the peanut gallery:
Dagon: Forest Of Tygers play music suitable for UFC entrance songs. I can see myself bashing someone’s skull or maybe riding a tyger in a forest of tygers being all savage and shit. Instead, I’m in my boxers rocking the fuck out. The sludgier influences are what seals the deal on this band, I just love everything about their sound.
Joe: With a name like “Forest Of Tygers” I was expecting some kind of pan-fluted assembly of dragonfucking power metal. I begrudgingly clicked play and was immediately punched in and around the torso and dick area. Eleventy stars.
Honorable mentions:
Pornography: Noisy-as-hell doom.
Vials Of Wrath: Pretty black metal about trees and shit.
Act Of Impalement: Crusty war doom.
Noun Of Noun*: Why do all the good Tennessee bands have Noun Of Noun names?
*(Not a real band. Listen to that song anyway.)
The Toilet ov Hell is on an absurd quest to find the best unsigned band in each state of this glorious union. The purpose? To shine the spotlight on bands that deserve more exposure. Also, we’re going to determine once and for all the greatest state in the nation. Each state winner is decided by a collection of 25 judges. After we’ve announced the winner of each state, we’re gonna throw them all in a winner-take-all bracket and leave the votes up to you. Who will be the best unsigned band in the United States? Which state is superior? We can’t wait to find out.
Previous winners:
Alabama — Phylum
Alaska — Terraform
Arizona – Take Over And Destroy
Arkansas – Torii
California – Destroy Judas
Colorado – The Sleer
Connecticut – Autumn’s Eyes
Delaware – Sloss
Florida – Capracide
Georgia – Lost Hours
Hawaii – Darkest Path
Idaho – Rotten Hand
Illinois – Deus Ex
Indiana – Thorr-Axe
Iowa – Blizzard at Sea
Kansas – Bummer
Kentucky – Ad Infinitum
Louisiana – Withering Light
Maine – Sylvia
Maryland – Bereave
Massachusetts – Scaphism
Michigan – Blackgate
Minnesota – Noble Beast
Mississippi – Jared Moran (Yzordderrex/Uzumaki)
Missouri – Existem
Montana – Martriden
Nebraska – Borealis
Nevada – Elephant Rifle
New Hampshire – Eerie
New Jersey – Black Table
New Mexico – Void Ritual
New York – HUSH.
North Carolina – The Seduction
North Dakota – Gorgatron
Ohio – Prize the Doubt
Oklahoma – Cottonmouth
Oregon – Drouth
Pennsylvania – Burden
Rhode Island – Eternal Khan
South Carolina – Solaire
South Dakota – Jelly Nutz Justoner
