Chiodos

Some music historians define punk in terms of groups that challenge rock's standard practices — regardless of whether they sound anything like the Sex Pistols. By this criteria, Queen embodied punk: They subversively smuggled a proud gay man's voice into America's athletic arenas, with flamboyant frontman Freddie Mercury making their moniker coyly confrontational. Queen's legacy lives on with Chiodos (pronounced "chee-oh-dos"), which flouts hardcore's tough-guy ethos by utilizing melodramatic crescendos and baroque piano balladry. The Michigan-based sextet bolsters these rhapsodies with breakdowns that are seismically similar to a packed stadium stomping along with "We Will Rock You." Choppy and chaotic, Chiodos' songs are anything but steady anthems, but their sporadic melodies and massive staggered riffs make them live killers.