Nothing sounds less like Christmas than Skinny Puppy’s Nivek Ogre growling surly slogans such as “This is the criminal age” on the Canadian industrial outfit’s latest album, Weapon. As bandleader cEvin Key cranks up his banks of synthesizers and robotic drum machines, Ogre chants tracks like “Illisit” and “Survivalisto” with foreboding menace. Ogre isn’t exactly evoking a winter wonderland with such guttural pronouncements as “A police state invents you” and “We’ll make you feel the Jim Jones vibe.” At times, Key’s backing bubbles with perky dance-floor grooves, but Skinny Puppy are far more interesting when he and guitarist Mark Walk turn up the volume and danger. Led by former Skinny Puppy member Bill Leeb, Front Line Assembly ditch the guitars and amp up the electronics on their new release, Echogenetic, which is by turns sinister and eerily beautiful.

Sat., Dec. 20, 6:30 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 12/20/14)

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