Garbers Days Revisited

Doom, death, prog, sludge, thrash, black, psych: Virginia’s Inter Arma has never been picky when it comes to metal—if it’s heavy, they do it, and with a regular-guy grit that makes even their most epic visions feel grounded, the daydreams of a bedroom-bound stoner. A covers album (note the title’s Metallica allusion), Garbers Days Revisited constellates a world where Neil Young (“Southern Man”) mixes with Ministry (“Scarecrow”), Tom Petty (“Runnin’ Down a Dream”) with Prince (“Purple Rain”). If some covers venture to push familiar material in unexpected directions, Garbers Days reveals extremes that were already there: the flag-waving heaviness of “Purple Rain,” the blood-soaked menace of “Southern Man.” Between the lines lay the band’s genealogy: part classic rock, part hardcore and thrash, all pretty, all loud.