US Christmas

Not much comes out of Marion, N.C. Perhaps that’s why what does, counts. Roy Williams, for example. And US Christmas, for another.

The heavy, psychedelic near-metal produced by US Christmas has largely escaped notice, except where it counts. “Mostly shit goes right,” US Christmas' frontman and guitarist Nate Hall once told me before a show. “When it counts, it goes right.”

That's how, by strokes of both luck and merit, the small-town band came to be signed by Neurot Recordings, the label operated by members of their heroes, Neurosis. And it's how US Christmas has found itself touring Europe alongside those same heroes. Stateside, the band’s take on Hawkwind-style proto-metal—heavy on blues riffs and morning-fog textures (compliments of Matt Johnson's contributions on analog synths, theremin and guitar effects)—is as respected by those who've heard it as it is obscure. Hall will speak at length about his heavy debts to blues legends Junior Kimbrough and T Model Ford, and classic rockers like Neil Young, before he references Slayer. As noisy and as heavy as US Christmas is, the band never forgets the riff and the deep-seated groove that gives their songs momentum.

A New York Times critic wrote of the band’s 2008 LP, Eat The Low Dogs, “the music is really distinguished by the sounds of old synthesizers — bubbly, oscillating noises pushed up to the surface of the mix. These sounds worm their way through Eat the Low Dogs (Neurot), the band’s fourth album; it’s deeply interior music, stretched out to the length it deserves.”

With the clout of Neurosis, and a hectic touring schedule, US Christmas has been picking up bigger and bigger shows—with Weedeater, Pontiak, Arbouretum and Rwake, to name a few—and positioned itself alongside the luminaries of slow, weird and artsy metal.

Clearly, to those fortunate enough to have become acquainted with US Christmas, their music counts. —Bryan Reed