Cherubs Credit: Jason Meade

In their brief existence, from 1991 till 1994, Cherubs gifted the world with two perfect documents of streamlined, intense, pummeling noise-rock: 1992’s Icing and 1994’s Heroin Man (both on King Coffey’s Trance Syndicate label). The sounds the Austin trio hammered out weren’t too far from what their east-coast contemporaries in Unsane were doing, and Icing and Heroin Man remain testaments to how effective rock music can be when it’s no-frills, loud, and mad. Two decades after their split, Cherubs seemingly reemerged out of nowhere, and in the five years since then they’ve matched the productivity of their initial run. In 2015 they released their third full-length, 2 Ynfynyty (Brutal Panda), and this summer they’ve kept up their impeccable streak with the brand-new Immaculada High (Relapse). It’s a smasher of an album, furious and blown out, channeling the exact power that made Cherubs so beloved in the first place. Though most bands have a different energy after a long-awaited reunion than they did in their early days, Cherubs exude the same dark, irreverent vibe they always have. They haven’t missed a beat yet, and now that noise-rock is resurgent, its masters are welcome back with open arms.   v