This show is a special treat for several reasons, but first and foremost, it’s a triple release party. Staggeringly heavy Iowa City doom trio Aseethe are about to release their third full-length, Throes(Thrill Jockey), which they recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini. The album addresses climate change and the rise of fascism, and proves that Aseethe are not going gently into that good night. Instead they present a gradual, inexorable apocalypse that can’t be averted once it starts to build its somber momentum. One of the most savage tracks on Throes, “To Victory,” opens on an elegant funereal note before erupting into a prolonged, elaborate cry of fury. Bloodyminded gigs are rare, since the group’s members—currently or formerly of Anatomy of Habit, Indian, Wolves in the Throne Room, Ferro Mortem, and the Fortieth Day, among other projects—are spread out among Chicago, New York, and France. Their forthcoming self-titled album, the long-awaited follow-up to 2013’s Within the Walls, is a momentous effort and not an easy listen. The band’s sound is in some ways a refinement of industrial music and power electronics, and they deliver it live in a declamatory performance-art style that puts performers and audience alike on trial—it’s cathartic, mesmerizing, and demanding. Local trio Stander are about to release their cassette The Slow Bark (also available digitally, of course), and though they’re lighter than Aseethe or Bloodyminded, with a trippy, jammy quality to their music, they’re far from shallow. Stander draw from 70s blues-rock for their sense of melody and rhythm, to which they also add a dose of 90s math rock and a delightful jolt of funk.
