Las Cruces

Las Cruces were an obscure doom outfit from San Antonio, TX, whose music owed a great debt to pioneering American acts like Saint Vitus and the Obsessed. Consistently hampered by paltry support from the independent labels that released them, the band's two albums — 1996's S.O.L. and 1998's Ringmaster — found little traction outside of the heavy metal underground. The lineup — including vocalist Mark Zammaron, guitarists Mark Lopez and George Trevino, bassist Art Cansino, and drummer Ben Regio Montano — was also constantly in flux, and only the singer and bassist remained by the release date of 2001's aptly named Lowest End EP. Las Cruces effectively ground to a half soon after, but in late 2007 the group was revived by founding members Trevino and Zammaron, alongside guitarist Mando Tovar, drummer Paul Deleon, and bassist Marilyn. Reports suggest that Las Cruces' second album, Ringmaster, is to be reissued imminently, and will be followed by a brand new full-length entitled Dusk.