Oh, Sleeper

Possibly the least groupie-friendly metal band in history, Oh, Sleeper packs its latest album When I Am God with preemptive strikes against foul temptresses. During opening track "Vices Like Vipers," singer Micah Kinard decries "my lust, the pornos and the sluts." "The Siren's Song" warns about "the soft wet skin that haunts," which could make the enchanted "forget the struggle." Unsurprisingly, this chaste Fort Worth, Texas, band christened itself after a Bible verse (Ephesians 5:14: "Wake up, O Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you"). Kinard ranges from a melodic delivery that's as tranquil as green pastures and still waters to a demon-possessed roar. The group's guitarists play weedly-weedly harmonic solos and chunky breakdown riffs, bringing appropriate musical gravity to dire, Revelation-referencing lyrics.