The sound sets us around 1964 - a vivacious guitar, spongy drum fills and soothing vocal harmonies. While the spectrum at Virginia Tech's Rock Club may be a little expansive, a few have been undergoing technical difficulties.
"We just needed something a little more brutal,' said junior Shannon "Thrash" Cummings.
Cummings, an English major and avid Motorhead fan, serves as the president of Virginia Tech's very own "Metal Militia." Formed last spring, the Militia is an outlet where head bangers unite every Monday night at 9 p.m. in Johnston Student Center 104 to explore the abysmal depths of metal - and by the looks of it, it gets pretty deep. Although the Militia hopes to embark on a little more concentrated of a genre, the continuum of metal is more extroverted than anyone could've ever imagined.
"As indicated on our flier, we want to be known as the most brutal club on campus," Cummings said with fortitude.
Considering how "brutal" a club can get, it can be a tad perplexing to conceptualize the meeting structure of the Metal Militia. Sitting next to the President of Thrash is the Militia's Vice Cannibal of Carnage, Jacob Shortt. A senior Accounting and Information Systems major, Shortt better explained the Militia's configuration.
"Our meetings tend to be pretty open ended," Shortt said. "We definitely have a basic idea, but metal is a very open-minded genre, so the organization and the people that show up reflect that quality.'
Although Blacksburg may not exactly be the cradle of metal, organizing the Militia comes naturally. Cummings and Shortt began with a booth at Virginia Tech's Gobbler Fest, and currently utilize Facebook for many of their organizational needs.
"Shannon asked if we wanted to start a metal club for those looking for something a little different than Rock Club," Shortt said. "I said, 'brutal, devil horns and popsicles.'"
The Militia lured in kids who enjoy metal by handing out fliers. Certainly most of the participation comes from nothing more than a little word of mouth.
"If we see someone with a Judas Priest shirt, we like to reach out and mention the club," Shortt said. "Shannon takes care of the business aspect - she understands surely nothing works like enticing people with free food."
During club meetings, the Militia offers an open forum for fans, those who are interested, and those who know nothing about it. But it seems like beyond the essentials, the Militia has been working to make this flight a more enjoyable experience - with turbulence likely. The Club has screened the fundamentals: The Devils Rejects, Metalocalypse marathons, and have even provided a March Metal Madness.
"Everyone submits metal songs they love and enter them into a bracket," Shortt explained. "We have a voting system to determine the most brutal songs; it worked out last year very well."
The Metal Militia also finds a fan favorite is Metal Jeopardy, a creation of the Militia's very own Vice Cannibal of Carnage, Shortt. Surely you can conceptualize what that entails.
With an Exodus show in Danville nearing, the Militia is also working on making field trips to concerts. Mixing metal into the local music scene couldn't hurt.
"We came pretty close to getting The Black Dahlia Murder this year, and we would certainly like to put our own show or a battle of the bands similar to what Rock Club tried to do," Cummings said. "We'd also love to get a speaker to come."
Many of the Militia members will be at The Gobbler tonight to watch Roanoke's very own classic metal brotherhood, Fallon. They plan to throw a metal party sometime in the near future.
"What better way to actually play good music than to have a metal party?" Shortt asked.
One of the Militia's greatest facets comes in the club's ability to accommodate and absorb different kind of metal tastes. Whether you're into power metal, death metal, or metalcore, the Militia is undoubtedly always recruiting new members - perhaps not nu-metal, though.
"Surely metal will always be an underground scene," Shortt assured. "Regardless of how much you're into it, we want as many people to come out as possible. We're very open minded and all about introducing people to new bands and expanding people's horizons."