In the nether regions of the music industry, where the light from popland never shines, an eternal struggle goes on between bands, and an eternal argument between fans, as to who is the heaviest band in the world - a title which LA metal/punk band Amen have claimed.
Onstage, Amen look the part, brandishing their instruments like weapons and stalking around like extras from Mad Max. Musically, they have taken the proverbial wall of noise as their starting point and nailed to it all manner of angry polemic and social angst.
Their performance bristles with energy, with frontman Casey Chaos intermittently clambering on amps and drumkit, hurling himself into the crowd or, in somewhat calmer moments, crouching into a foetal position to get off a good, solid scream.
The guitar players execute their riffs while leaning backwards like angst-ridden limbo dancers.
Amen mix up the industrial noises a la Ministry and Nine Inch Nails with the force and intensity of bands like Slayer, and wrap it all up in post-ironic shock tactics.
The fact that the album they are currently promoting, We Have Come For Your Parents, has been neatly sound-byted as "the most violent major label release ever" gives an indication of how Chaos and co are trying to be perceived, except they sometimes comes across as a bunch of white boys who are making loud noises because they don't know how to cope with suburbia.
Pseudo-anger aside, though, Amen are seriously committed to the noises they make and are genuinely good at what they do. And they probably are the heaviest band in the world.
