Black Tusk was born from sweat. There was blood, and maybe a few tears, too, but more than anything, it was sweat that marked the earliest years of Savannah, Georgia’s Black Tusk. Formed in 2005 by three lifelong friends—bassist Jonathan Athon, guitarist Andrew Fidler, and drummer James May—the band welded together what they called “swamp metal.”

Photo credit Geoff Johnson

Formed in Southern California in 2008 when vocalist James Paul Luna and drummer Tyler Meahl diverged from Pasadena metal squadron White Wizzard and teamed up with San Diegan guitar hero Eli Santana, the band was called Sorcerer until it became clear that the moniker didn’t quite capture the rarefied nature of the members’ collective talents. Sorcerer became Holy Grail. The band became so unstoppable that California just couldn’t contain them and now, like their spiritual forefathers in Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Dio, Holy Grail are poised to bring their hook-laden shred anthems to an arena near you.

Holy Grail are heavy metal personified, possessing a seemingly infinite arsenal of mind-blowing riffs, skyscraping vocal melodies and devastating drum dynamism. Not mention the kind of six-string acrobatics and straight-up power-shredding that would make Yngwie Malmsteen chuck the proverbial goat in sweep-picking solidarity. “We shred and we’re serious about it,” Luna offers. “This is not a tongue-in-cheek thing. It’s not throwback or retro. Holy Grail is a modern band with a new twist on the best of old-school metal with death metal riffs, modern breakdowns and power-metal singing. We just tried to pick stuff from all our favorite bands and make the best blend of metal we could.”

But don’t take our word for it—or Luna’s. The fine folks at Decibel magazine knew exactly what they were talking about when they hailed HOLY GRAIL as “the most exciting prefix-free metal band to come out of L.A. in the last two decades.” The esteemed editors at UK’s Metal Hammer nominated the gentlemen of the Grail for the magazine’s “Best New Band” award at their annual Golden Gods ceremony before Holy Grail even had an album out. But a certain tall, handsome genius over at Thrasher summed it up best when he proclaimed, “Holy Grail are the reason that heavy metal will never die.”

Cokegoat was founded in Chicago during the summer of 2011. A tight knit group of six members feature three riff pregnant guitars that present a strong and progressive idea of what heavy music is. Combined with three very different voices, including a strong female presence, textural synths, dark bong rattling bass lines and adrenalized drums all define Cokegoat. With equal parts heavy, progressive, and beer, 2013 saw the release of the debut album “Vessel.” Invisible Oranges stated, “there is plenty to bang your head to, but the extra elements add texture and give the band an edge.” Open minds allow Cokegoat to push the boundaries of what is considered massive music as they re-enter the studio in early 2015.

Through the wonders of the internet, S.O.A. was formed in March of 2011 by George Lohan. All the other pieces just naturally fell into place after Erik Michael and Jason krieger joined and the sings for the debut wrote themself. After a long search, vocalist David kraus was discovered. After a few lineup changes, the current lineup has remained strong since 2013.