Gideon Smith & The Dixie Damned - 30 Weight (2011)

For a macho-baritoned shotgun wedding of thick-plod doom metal (including a Saint Vitus cover) to roadhouse blues (in both a Doors and a ZZ Top sense), this feels surprisingly goth -- and not just 'cause there's a vampire song. Still, Smith flies his Carolina flag, naming one track "South," and honky-tonking two Jim Beamed redneck outlaw numbers with lap steel and washboard. Add guitar intros that sound like 1993 Urge Overkill ripping '70s AOR ("Ride with Me") and 1975 Pere Ubu dabbling in Sabbathoid psychedelics ("Born to the Highway"), and the Dixie Damned earn their motorcycle licenses.