Thursday, March 6
Christian Mistress
E. 7th St. Warehouse
Seattle quintet Christian Mistress make thunderous rock, plain and simple. On albums such as 2012's Possession, the group's riffs owe a debt to '70s masters of metal, with paying homage to Black Sabbath and the New Wave of British Heavy Metalers from later that decade. The raspy vocals of Christine Davis are a fine complement to the hard-driving riffs lurking beneath.
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Saturday, March 8
The Ocean
Lyric Theatre
This German group has carved an impressive career for themselves over the last decade with progressive post-metal that is full of thick riffs and big ideas. Their 2013 record Pelagial balances haunting piano and string work with excellent sludge-metal. The Ocean's records take listeners on a journey down a wonderfully-winding road.

Saturday, March 8
Gravehill
Complex
Gravehill stormed out from behind the Orange Curtain with one mission: to create ripping death/thrash metal odes to death, destruction, and Satan. Their third full-length album Death Curse – out April 1 – is full of blistering guitars courtesy of Hell Messiah and CC DeKill, and equally blistering vocals from Mike Abominator. This show is a chance to get aurally assaulted by the new material.

Thursday, March 13
Possessed
Whisky A Go-Go
Possessed burst out of the '80s Bay Area metal scene with the landmark 1985 death metal classic Seven Churches. Only one full-length album followed, but their debut permanently cemented their legacy. Vocalist Jeff Becerra was paralyzed from the chest down in a 1990 shooting. But since reviving Possessed as a live act in 2007 with members of Los Angeles death metal stalwarts Sadistic Intent, Becerra still displays more energy and whiplash-inducing headbanging than many fully-abled vocalists.

Animals As Leaders; Credit: Courtesy of Sumerian Records

Animals As Leaders; Credit: Courtesy of Sumerian Records

Sunday, March 30
Animals As Leaders
The Roxy Theatre
Guitarist and band leader Tosin Abasi was at the forefront of the current wave of instrumental metal when he conceived his group in 2007. New album The Joy of Motion – coming out on March 25th – shows that even as dozens of similar-minded instrumental projects have sprouted in the wake of his success, Abasi is still the pace-setter for the genre. There's still plenty of flashy guitar work to appeal to djent-metal and prog-metal fans, but touches of electronic music give the trio's work an otherworldly air.

Sunday, March 30
Destruction
Whisky A Go-Go
German trio Destruction was one of a handful of bands in the mid-'80s who proved that European bands could thrash just as hard as their American counterparts. More clinical in their approach to the genre, classics such as 1986's Eternal Devastation and newer works like 2012's Spiritual Genocide will leave your head, neck, and ears sore for days. 

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