If you’ve seen Yautja live, you’re a Yautja fan. It’s basically that simple. This busy Nashville trio, whose ranks include members of Coliseum, Alraune, and Mutilation Rites (among others), can dominate a room in a way that you don’t often see from bands of their relatively underground stature. Guitarist Shibby Poole’s impossibly huge tone is worth the price of admission by itself. And after the past year, chances are decent that you actually have seen Yautja — they’ve spent that period touring aggressively on their excellent 2014 album Songs Of Descent, sharing bills with the likes of Inter Arma, Cult Leader, and Black Breath whenever one of their other bands isn’t already touring. Which makes me wonder how Yautja found the time to put together Songs Of Lament, the EP-sized follow-up to Songs Of Descent they’re releasing next month. A lot of Yautja’s live appeal rests on the sheer physical force they bring to bear — imagine an extremely mean-spirited death metal band toying with the thickest riffs from Mastodon’s early catalog. That power comes through loud and clear on “Breed Regret,” the opening cut from Songs Of Lament. Pretty much every riff is a banger, but wait until Yautja lock in after the break at 2:49 to get a sense of just how hard these guys can hit. Listen.

Songs Of Lament will be out on 10/13 via Forcefield Records. Yautja are hitting the road (surprise!) during September and October with Miami death/grind psychos Maruta. Check out the dates below. (Full disclosure: My band has played with Yautja a few times in the past, and we’ll be performing with them again at the New York date of this tour.)

Yautja tour dates:

9/14 Birmingham, AL @ Seasick Records

9/15 Savannah, GA @ Alex’s House

9/16 Orlando, FL @ Uncle Lou’s

9/17 Miami, FL @ Churchill’s Pub **

9/18 Tallahassee, FL @ Pug’s Live **

9/19 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn **

9/20 Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern **

9/21 Fayetteville, NC @ Drunk Horse Pub **

9/22 Harrisonburg, VA @ The Golden Pony **

9/23 Baltimore, MD @ The Sidebar **

9/25 Louisville, KY @ Spinelli’s Downtown **

9/26 Akron, OH @ The Rialto Theatre **

9/27 Rochester, NY @ Flour City Station **

9/28 Cambridge, MA @ Cantab Lounge

9/29 Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar **

9/30 Montclair, NJ @ The Meat Locker **

10/1 Philadelphia @ Second Empire

10/2 Richmond, VA @ Love Jail w/ Ramming Speed

10/3 Charolettsville, VA @ Champion Brewing Company w/ Ramming Speed

10/4 Asheville, NC @ TBA

** w/ Maruta