Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Javelina were formed in late 2005 by former members of local bands like LickGoldenSky, Smut, and Otophobia, and proceeded to develop a style mixing the sludgy doom of Acid Bath and Eyehategod with the savage metal assault of High on Fire and the crustcore directness of His Hero Is Gone. Duly signed to the Translation Loss label, Javelina released their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album in 2008, and followed it a year later with the sophomore Beasts Among Sheep, which, among other accolades, was named one of Decibel magazine's Top 40 metal albums of 2009. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia