Bang Camaro

Boston's Bang Camaro is more than a metal band. It is its own metal universe: a self-contained cosmos encompassing the last quarter-century of metal — pop metal, hair metal, speed metal, thrash metal, glam metal — writ large, proud, and loud.

Yes, you've heard all the riffs before, back when you were a kid hanging in a heavy-metal parking lot in the 'burbs, cranking Dio or Iron Maiden . Like fellow throwbacks Waltham and Damone, Bang Camaro — a supergroup of sorts consisting of members of some of Boston's best past and present rock bands (the Good North, Model Sons, Taxpayer) — is all about the good times that were shunted aside and put away as "adulthood" beckoned.

The Camaro's debut full-length rights this wrong with tracks like the Thin Lizzy-esque "Rock of Mages," the narcissistic grandeur of "You Know I Like My Band," and, of course, a power ballad ingeniously titled "The Ballad." Fear not: Bang Camaro has come to save our sorry, rock-depleted souls, and it's taking no prisoners. [Jonathan Perry]