Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

Although singer Dallas Taylor is no heathen, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, his latest band (which shares this bill with Modern Life Is War and Paulson), represents a rather unholy enterprise, and thank God for that. Taylor once pledged allegiance to Underoath, a Christian metal-core act with a sizable following. But he split during the 2003 Warped Tour under reportedly ugly circumstances — and when he re-emerged the following year, it was as the frontman of a very different group. Maylene, named for ’30s-vintage crime matron Maylene “Ma” Barker, finds Taylor and his cohorts in the guise of rustic ruffians armed with songs that regularly perform shotgun weddings between stoner rock and old-school metallic boogie. The outfit’s second disc, which bears the easy-to-remember moniker II, continues this concept via a CD jacket that pictures the players as gunplay victims, and tracks such as “Darkest of Kin,” a demented choogler that concludes with Taylor wailing, “God, make me pay like the devil I am!” Lord knows he means it, too.