In the world of Messer Chups, it's all about the riff. Guitarist Oleg Guitaracula will occasionally grunt some howling-man vocals, but most of the time he and bassist Svetlana “Zombierella” Nagaeva are stitching together spidery threads of conjoined melodies on their axes. Although there are heavy doses of rockabilly and garage rock in the Russian trio's approach on their latest album, Taste the Blood of Guitaracula, Messer Chups' sound is most heavily rooted in surf rock. Mr. Guitaracula's Batman-style riffs are soaked in reverb — and sometimes made even more spacey with washes of theremin — while Nagaeva underpins everything with her darkly lurking, subterranean bass lines. Drummer Evgeny “Rockin' Eugene” Lomakin chops it all together with dizzying drum rolls and curt, simple beats.

Alex's Bar, 2913 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach; Sat., March 30, 8 p.m.; $15. (562) 434-8292, alexsbar.com.

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