The Entrance Band

Blessed with a big thumbs-up from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and the membership of bassist Paz Lenchantin of A Perfect Circle and Zwan, the Entrance Band seems to have appeared fully formed and ready to take over the world. But the project — the brainchild of singer/guitarist Guy Blakeslee, formerly of the underlooked post-hardcore outfit The Convocation Of... — has existed for years as a mostly solo effort, peddling a psychedelic folk blues not entirely removed from the domain of, say, Devendra Banhart. When Blakeslee changed the name from Entrance to the Entrance Band and recorded the group's new, self-titled album, though, things got kicked up a few dozen notches: While there are still traces of drone and haze floating below and above Blakeslee's psychic-warrior howl, Lenchantin and drummer Derek James have pushed the trip into proto-metal overdrive. If making an entrance is what they're after, mission accomplished.