16: Guides For The Misguided

Vinyl LP pressing. "Some of the most misanthropic, miserable and black-hearted metal this side of a thrice-divorced, needle-sharing, scrapyard-squatting suicidal junkie" - Decibel Magaine. Nearly 35 years on, -(16)- remain as one of the most enduring, hardest sounding rock and metal entities from North America. The San Diego band redefines heavy on their new album, Guides for the Misguided. Bobby Ferry returns at the helm as the band's viceral vocalist and guitarist, and in true -(16)- fashion, belts out stories of pain and unhinged anguish - standout tracks like "Proudly Damned" see the band playing at the crowd while Ferry shares tales of personal strife and depression - "To defile and offend/These are the demons found within/The sullen face of communion's alarm/It's an incentive to do more harm" - Ferry is absolutely seething while the band plows through a virulent mix of rock, metal and sludge. Dion Thurman's pounding drum set, Bobby Ferry and Alex Shuster's heavier-than-anything-else guitars and the lowest low end from bassist Barney Firks herald tones so low they're nearly apocalyptic. Guides for the Misguided closes with the soberingly titled "Kick out the Chair" - while the track sounds like a culmination of a 35 year career, the band show no signs of stopping; although the road ahead looks bleak, -(16)-'s unrelenting trajectory continues upward.