As with the temporal landscape of any artform, metal’s topography is speckled with breakout groups that erupt from beneath the surface like volcanic islands, suddenly gaining marked prominence over the surrounding terrain. Sometimes these groups maintain outstanding consistency and provide the world with compelling new music year after year; all too often, though, the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and we witness even the most stellar acts lapse into generic irrelevance or implode altogether. Unlike most art forms, however, metal presents its acolytes with the rare opportunity to manufacture success from the ground up, to be included and recognized on a smaller scale t