Barn Burner

Montreal quartet Barn Burner, still early in their career with just one album issued so far, fuse metal, heavy blues, and alternative rock into an arresting sound. Frontman and guitarist Kevin Keegan shares the stage with guitarist Marc Doucette, bassist Nick Ball, and drummer Taylor Freund; together they power a riff-driven attack that echoes the classic era of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple while the twin lead guitars nod to Thin Lizzy. Traces of more recent 2000s hard rock and metal acts surface as well, aligning the group with Saviours, Priestess, and Early Man, and an alternative-rock edge surfaces most clearly in Keegan’s vocals, which sometimes evoke Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto. The band secured a deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 on the strength of live performances and demos alone, without any previous recordings, and delivered their first album, Bangers, in early 2010.