Skinny Puppy

You could make the argument that Canadian anarcho-industrial-rock pioneer Skinny Puppy has been at its most artistically potent (and successful) over the past 27-plus years when there's a right-wing boogeyman at the helm of the free world to rail against. The group — long led by frontman Nivek Ogre and multi-instrumentalist cEvin Key (third original SP mainstay Dwayne Goettel died of a heroin overdose in 1995) — rose to prominence and crafted some of its best work during the Reagan/Bush years, fell off (and split up) during the Clinton '90s, and re-emerged, wholly revitalized with two new albums, during the W. years. How the band will fare now that Obama is in office is anyone's guess, although with a couple of wars still going on, a lousy economy, continued animal abuse, media manipulation, and tons more awful shit happening in the world, there's still plenty to be noisy, chaotic, intense, and pissed off about. Plus Skinny Puppy's multimedia stage show, as always, is fucking amazing.