Elitist

You could be excused for thinking every metal band out of L.A. did its time on the Sunset Strip. Thankfully, Elitist is too young for all that nonsense and isn’t really made from the same stuff anyway. Sounding like a true alloy of crust punk, hardcore and death metal, Elitist also clearly makes excellent use of its chops. Super-technical metal can be boring for everyone but musicians, but this band has a ragingly visceral live presence. Its flood of sound is also much more akin to Wolves in the Throne Room and To Be Eaten than it is to acts like Mastodon or Meshuggah. Informed by a sonically experimental streak, Elitist is more than what seems obvious.