Friday, August 20 at 8:00 p.m., Skull Alley presents a line-up of bands sure to please those who like their music loud, loud, and loud. Oh, and also heady, atmospheric, and a little bit trippy.

The Orbs are a “supergroup” of musicians from other – mostly heavy metal bands – who just released their debut album, Asleep Next to Science -- progressive rock, self-described as “epic and spacey.” The band is made up of Dan Briggs, (Raleigh, NC) bass player for Between the Buried and Me; vocalist and guitarist Adam Fisher and drummer Clayton Holyoak (Aurora, CO) both from the band Fear Before; bassist Chuck Johnson; and  keyboardist Ashley Jurgemeyer (Scottsdale, AZ) from Cradle of Filth. The collective was born out of friendships forged on the Internet and sharing music via MySpace, but they all came together to record as the Orbs in Winston-Salem, NC. The music is an experimental blend of symphonic rock with complex lyrics and song structures -- aggressive, operatic, big. You can sign-up at their web site and get two free MP3s from the album.

The Orbs are touring with Junius, a hard rock group out of Boston, who released a critically acclaimed album last fall, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist, hailed by Rolling Stone as a “stunning balance of brutality and beauty.”

Louisville heavy metal band Old Vikings will open for both. I'm not sure what will happen when they break out the song “Skull Splitter” at Skull Alley, but consider yourself warned.

Tickets for the show are $7 at the door. Skull Alley is located at 1017 East Broadway, near the corner of Barret and Broadway.