Ten years ago, hard rock reigned from a much higher throne. Nirvana and Soundgarden shirts clothed the suburbs, and the reverb from dirgey metal/ rock combos could bounce a sack full of lead off the scales in bedroom speakers.

Ten years later, trendsetting underground music no longer comes from guys who spent afternoons practicing their Sabbath riffs, instead coming from art school dropouts with keyboards, or garage bands who studied their Nuggets collections well. Queens of the Stone Age is one of the few heavy bands bringing a bit of the sludge back to the airwaves, and High on Fire has been preaching the metal gospel to a growing flock. Labels like Tee Pee, Small Stone, Meteor City, Revelation, and Reptilian support quality releases on shoestring budgets.

But unfortunately, heavy rock still seems to remain on the popularity sidelines.

"When the major acts that everybody knows come through, like Slayer or the Melvins, the crowds come out of the woodwork," says Scott Driscoll, drummer for Seattle's Bronze. "Otherwise, people just don't come out."

Bronze bassist Chad Hartgrave, a tattoo artist with ink creeping up his neck, nurses a beer at the Comet and concurs with Driscoll. "I think a lot of it is that in the last couple years, with the whole grunge movement and every club in Seattle having tons of bands every night, a lot of people got tired of seeing the same thing. It takes a while for people to get excited about heavier, louder music again."

Hopefully that excitement will start to build, since the Bronze are talented contenders in the heavyweight rock category. Frontman, guitarist, and founder Craig Mueller has seen a revolving cast of members in the two years the band's been around (before gaining Driscoll, the group lost a drummer to another excellently heavy band, the Whip), but the Seattle native finally has a solid lineup. In addition to Hartgrave and Driscoll (who both also play in Sludgeplow), Mueller met New York transplant Chovie (of Kung Pow) through StonerRock.com, and now the guitarist completes the lineup. Together, the four make dense, rhythmic noise that moves with a giant's girth through metal's deepest trenches. They underwrite chunky, elephantine riffs with darker grooves, and make sure the sound is close to mammoth with a shitload of amps by their side.

Mueller says there's a lot of good, loud, defiant rock going unheard, which is why he organized the first Loudfest event at Sit & Spin in June; he hopes to put on a bigger all-Northwest lineup in the near future.

"I did Loudfest to showcase all these heavy bands that most people from Seattle are never going to see," he says. "Argonaut from Tacoma, Bacchus from Olympia, Golden Pig from Port Orchard. There's some really cool shit going on here now; it's just that people have to want to see it and keep their ear to the streets to find out about it."

One place where people are keeping their ear out is Tacoma, which Mueller says has been faithful to harder bands thanks to a club called Hell's Kitchen. "That's ground zero for heavy rock now," he says. "You see a lot more audience support and people who are into it down there. It's at the point where Seattle needs to put itself back on the map as a town for good rockin' music--Hell's Kitchen is kicking the hell out of the scene up here. People are starting to think, 'Why play in Seattle any more, when you're going to play to 10 people?' which is a shame. It'd be cool if people gave a little more to the scene and made it a more worthwhile place for bands.... There's something really cool going on now, and I just hope it keeps going and grows into something a little bigger than it is now."

But not all the Bronze's members think Seattle's heavier bands lack support. "[Heavy] rock is a small scene nationwide, so the few shows I've seen here have been relatively well attended," says Chovie. "It's an underground community. I prefer it that way, though. I don't want to see chain wallets at the Gap or stoner shorts at Old Navy," he laughs.

"Too late," grins Mueller. "You already can buy pyramid stud belts at the Bon."

jennifer@thestranger.com