Shows of the Week: Pallbearer Is One of the Defining Bands of the Past Decade of Doom Metal

What to see and hear this week.

Pallbearer
By Daniel Bromfield

Friday, July 19

Fronted by young Portland singer-songwriter Maria DeHart, Bug Seance has built up a following in the local indie universe thanks to their sweet-and-heavy shoegaze sound and essential good-naturedness. Being loud in Portland doesn’t necessarily mean being aggro, and the songs on the Bugs’ latest EP, I’m right here, attest to the ability of noisy guitar music to create a comforting space: to embrace rather than repel. Turn! Turn! Turn!, 8 NE Killingsworth St. 8 pm. Sliding scale. 21+.

Friday, July 19

Jah Wobble’s bone-vibrating bass was every bit as crucial to the sound of Public Image Ltd. as the voice of John Lydon, the erstwhile Johnny Rotten who reached his final form on PIL’s 1979 post-punk masterpiece Metal Box. Wobble’s since enjoyed a long and prolific career as a collaborator and improviser, often working in the Jamaican dub tradition, and for his latest tour, he’s reimagining Metal Box as a solo dub performance that may be less scabrous sans Lydon but should do no less of a number on the body. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 8 pm. $25. 21+.

Saturday, July 20

Pallbearer is one of the defining bands of the last 10 years of doom metal. Their music is as stagnant and putrid as you’d hope from great doom, but their classic-rock influences and penchant for blindingly technical prog passages have led them to become an unlikely crossover success, especially in indie-rock circles. Their new album, Mind Burns Alive, puts the premium as much on emotional as musical heaviness, alternating between cathartic cascades of amp sludge and passages that sound almost slowcore. Star Theater, 13 NW Sixth Ave. 7 pm. $25. 21+.

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