Mysterious Orlando band Bunaand release punishing debut album

Slowly, stealthily and despite little tangible presence, enigmatic mega-power trio Bunaand have crept up from the underground to become darlings of the area’s heavy-music cognoscenti.

Since their 2022 stage debut until now, the band of Sam Segrest (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jordan Douglas (drums) and James Covington (lead guitar) hadn’t released any music and performances have been scant. But, goddamn, those opening peeks have been staggeringly visceral enough to position Bunaand as Orlando’s next deafening juggernaut on the trembling horizon.

Now, however, the looming storm has officially touched down with Bunaand’s new debut release. Their self-titled mini-album is a thundering introduction featuring five slabs of towering metal seemingly carved whole from the side of a stone mountain. That’s not incidental. Bunaand are, by design, one of those intensely sonic bands. Like Jucifer, Swans or Orlando’s Ad Nauseum, they’re looking to punish you. Live, you feel them as much as hear them.

For Bunaand, that sheer force is a matter of mission with an entire setup geared toward that very end.“Bunaand is a three-piece: drums, two guitars,” says Covington. “Both guitars play a giant guitar and bass rig to create as much volume and fullness as possible.”

Moreover, the band self-built much of their own equipment.“Sam hand-built and wired our four guitar amps and built all of our effect pedals,” Covington says. “I built our guitar cabinets and helped build my guitar.”

That sonically lethal intent manifests in their debut release as songs built for mass and volume. With crashing, blunt-force riffs and piledriving Southern grooves, these are hulking monoliths of doom, sludge and psych metal. But while no recording can fully capture sonic-boom bands like Bunaand, this collection does reveal a degree of craftsmanship in their songs that their overwhelming live shows often obscure.

For all the gravity in their sound, though, there’s some down-low levity going on here, too.“We are not terribly serious people,”Segrest says. “The music is pretty heavy, so we try to lighten the load here and there with humor or lighter elements.”

Those subversive touches include samples peppered throughout the album from Gene Wilder and Cheech & Chong movies. Add to that a fictitious band name with no meaning that they, as a rule, don’t themselves say in public in order to let everyone fumble their own way through the pronunciation and perception of the band.

But even that can’t soften that fact that Bunaand are one of the most imposing and anticipated heavy bands to emerge from Orlando in a long time. Now, there’s a monstrous recorded document of their promise in the books. The exceptional Bunaand streams everywhere and sits atop TLU’s Spotify playlist.

Really, though, you should experience Bunaand live, if you dare, which you can this weekend with Orbiter, Sandcrawler and Shock & Awe (8 p.m. Saturday, April 5, Uncle Lou’s, $12).

Covington promises, “I can guarantee we will be the loudest performance to ever grace Lou with their presence.” I’ve seen them. Trust him.

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This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2025.