Aggressive music has seen trends come and go while continuing to transform and evolve, now to the point where music that was once too abrasive for the mainstream can now break into the Billboard 200. Are the tastes of the mainstream evolving, or are musicians compromising themselves in the interest of making money? It’s likely some combination of the two, but for Minneapolis trio Buildings, neither of these matter in the least.

Animal Lover have a sound that hits you in the forehead and gut simultaneously. Frontman Addison Shark's guitar explodes like a dirty bomb of feedback, and the pulverizing bass and drums of Evan Bullinger and Nate Fisher add to its shrapnel spray. This is noise rock powerful enough to leave a lasting physical impression -- albeit a confusing one for venues assembling punk nights. "It does get pretty tunnel vision as far as being genre-specific," Shark elaborates. "We'll wind up on a straight hardcore bill because that's kind of just what goes on in that particular scene."