People tend to generally take themselves pretty seriously when it comes to their heavy metal — but Sapphic Musk is that special band that overcomes the burden of the heavy and the coldness of the metal to give you something to bang your head to, not against. Blessed with insistently entertaining theatricality and an inflatable purple dragon named Wanda, the band — guitarist Mia Ferraro, drummer Freddie McCullough, bassist Christina Ownby, singer Sarah T. Russell — may be best-known for their breakthrough 2015 hit “Kittenz,” a very metal banger about cats that led to surging global demand, both from humans and kittens. Sarah Russell remains one of the most vibrant performers storming stages today; with her sterling onstage banter and the sheer vocal power blasting out of her 5’2” frame, her charms as an artist are such that you’ll wish she actually had invented metal — the item, as well as the art form.

Sapphic Musk plays with Black Sabbitch, Paradise Vultures and Old Blood at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 19 at the Viper Room.

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