Olympia, Washington's Christian Mistress fly in the face of the region's grunge-birthing reputation with a sound representing what was arguably the strongest musical style laid low by the flannel revolution: heavy metal. In fact, since coming together in 2008, band members Ryan McClain (guitar), Oscar Sparbel (guitar), Johnny Wulf (bass), Rueben Storey (drums), and raspy-voiced front-woman Christine Davis (ex-Buried Blood), have set their studded watches back in time, focusing squarely on the raw, unsophisticated musical aesthetic typical of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, circa 1979. This direction was previewed on a 2009 demo and single, earning eager blessings from many underground metal illuminati, most notably Darkthrone's Fenriz, and paved the way to Christian Mistress' eventual hook-up with the 20-Buck Spin label, which released the band's six-song debut mini-album, Agony and Opium, in 2010.