Most Precious Blood

A hardcore group with a heart, Most Precious Blood co-headlined last year’s Compassion Over Fashion tour, which promoted PETA and other animal-rights organizations. The New York quintet also instituted its own Take Your Pets to Work Day, letting dogs commandeer lead vocals on several bonus tracks. Singer Rob Fusco delivers thoughtful lyrics in a moderate, enunciated shout, the kind of voice that dominated hardcore before death-metal growls inexplicably invaded the genre. Rachel Rosen makes the extremely short list of hardcore-playing female guitarists, but her brutal riffs make it clear that she’s not in the band because of some liberal quota policy. Speaking of other not-just-for-boys field, Rosen used to perform autopsies for a living, which lends creepy authenticity to the corpse pictured in Most Precious Blood’s latest album artwork.