If a line exists between speed-punk and thrash-metal (and I'm guessing that line, however thin, does exist), local quartet the Ultraviolents joyfully falls off either side of the tightrope on its self-titled album. The standard guitar-bass-drums set-up is augmented by Mabel Suen's tenor saxophone, which twists and turns amid a rhythmic, distorted maelstrom. The inclusion of the saxophone calls to mind early-'80s no-wave à la James White & the Blacks, though the Ultraviolents relies less on art-damaged weirdness than it does growling fury. The sax is a notoriously hard instrument to incorporate into non-Springsteen-indebted rock & roll, and Suen is most successful when she uses her horn to add honking resonance to guitar squalls or to establish something approaching a melody line (though melody and harmony are not exactly key elements of the Ultraviolents' sound). "Trouble Kill Zombie" starts out as a black wave of thrashing guitars and cymbals while the saxophone offers vaguely Middle... More >>>