Filthy Jim

Those lucky enough to catch Lawrence's Filthy Jim in its natural element bore witness to an unbridled cock-rock assault that paid straight-faced tribute to the genre's scuzzy matinee idols: Motorhead, Metallica and Guns n' Roses. Beyond that, the band was a card-carrying member of the tour-till-it-hurts circuit that spawned like-minded morality wreckers such as Zeke and Valient Thorr. The group played its last show on New Year's Eve, coinciding with the release of a curtain-call LP. Recorded at Black Lodge Studios, Night Killers is Filthy Jim's last and most focused effort. Swaggering on the strength of boundless triplet riffs à la Muse's "Nights of Cydonia," the nine-song album goes for the throat and doesn't let go until listeners have absorbed more high-octave vocals than a Megadeth retrospective. It's a fitting epitaph for a band that was filthy good.