Scatter The Ashes play a hometown gig in Nashville.

Plain ol' rock has died

Members of Nashville band Scatter the Ashes count themselves among the acts under prominent California punk label Epitaph --- launch pad for punkers The Offspring and Rancid, among others --- and they're a fine example of the label's efforts to broaden its stable.

The quartet's sound has roots in punk's aggressive aesthetic, but it also plays with metal's precision, space-rock's atmosphere and new-wave's dance-friendly rhythms.

On Devout/The Modern Hymn, the band's Epitaph debut, singer Daryl Stamps coasts confident, sing-song vocal lines in between the distorted guitar chugs. Stamps' throaty sustain sometimes smacks of Tool mouthpiece Maynard James Keenan.

The band will play a hometown show tonight at The Muse, alongside Illinois post-hardcore band The Kinison and New York ragged rockers The A.K.A.s.

By Nicole Keiper
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