Raw energy, boiling frustration and churning riffage fuel the impossibly heavy Lovelessness, the staggeringly brilliant mess of rugged, rampaging thrash metal brought forth by Bison B.C. Unloved, they charge out of Vancouver with a messed-up head, ragged clothes and feral, throat-shredding vocals strained beyond medically acceptable limits. These caustic, skid-row noisemakers have been rejected and they respond by whipping up a frighteningly intense racket that’s every bit the measure of Mastodon’s immense rogue wave of guitars and High On Fire’s tempestuous fury.

Even as dust bowls of drums and bass blot out the sun and come flying across these sonic plains, the rich, deep tones and bug-eyed aggression James Farwell and Dan And coax from their guitars cut through the storms like giant, gleaming swords. Split into halves, the 9-minute plus “Anxiety Puke/Lovelessness” flails wildly with the racing heartbeat of a blinded fighter in a prison riot, before slowing to a menacing crawl. In the sludgy, 11-minute slog through the thick tension of “Blood Music,” Bison B.C. tramps across miles of sonic mud and meaty, barbed-wire riffs and lives to tell about it. This is trench warfare, and Bison B.C. seems to fancy it.

Bayonets fixed, Bison B.C. sneaks into “Last and First Things” and takes it by force in thrilling fashion, crazily vandalizing the place with sharpened, flashing axe work and rhythmic brutality, much as they do in the surging, slashing, slow-burn “Clozapine Dream.” Theirs is a world where even the most poisonous and treacherous love is not just hard to find, it’s impossible and their lyrics reflect that hopelessness. That fact doesn’t leave them depressed; instead, it fills them destructive anger, the kind that drives men to acts of madness. Like bilious punk terrorists the Jesus Lizard did in the ‘90s, Bison B.C. strikes out in bold, decisive ways, delivering bare-knuckled hooks that turn rib cages into kindling. And Lovelessness is gripping, demanding to be heard. Without a conscience, it drags your beaten, lifeless body – offering no resistance after just one punishing listen – out into the streets to be devoured and torn apart by coyotes. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Label: Metal Blade Records (audio CD format is available here)