Fear of a black metal planet

Now that we’ve gotten passed the greeting card generated holiday of Valentine’s Day, we can get back to our regular program. There is an absolutely ton of gigs happening this week, running the gamut from pitch black dark techno to gas guzzling rock ’n’ roll, but the real big pick of the week will go to third wave black metal commune dwellers who will warm up the room for some truly legendary Norwegian second wave black metal masters. For those of you who aren’t down with seething vocals and blitzkrieg guitars and want to see a true pioneer of electronic and industrial music, kindly scoot down to Friday’s listing.

Thursday: This week starts off absolutely storming the gates with the high-octane NWOBHM of Metalian and Sexface blistering the paint of Katacombes. 1635 St-Laurent, 9:30 p.m., price unlisted

If classic Judas Priest and straight up punk ain’t yer thang, you can swill some pints at Casa when the Dangereens put some extra sleaze in your pint with Hoozbah and Tonitruance. 4873 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $5

Friday: If you who like your eggs heavy side up, you’ll want to travel into the heart of Hochelaga to Atomic Café to catch Hammerhands, Laval, Irn, They Grieve and Like Swamps. 3606 Ontario E., 8 p.m., $12

For those of you who were at the Dangereens show on Thursday and want to keep the rock ’n’ roll ball rolling, make tracks to God’s favourite bar — the Barfly — to catch Light Bulb Alley with Buddy Smiles and the Fuzzy Undertones. 4062 St-Laurent, time and price unlisted

The big ticket for this Friday, and certainly for fans of strange blips and bleeps, is electronic music god Drew McDowall, performing all the knob twirling from his classic band Coil’s body of work with openers Urlapse, Grkzgi, Sunstroke Militia and Gamma Scum at Sala. 4848 St-Laurent, 9:30 p.m., $15/$12 advance

Saturday: For some glimmering power pop with a healthy dose of punk thrown in (à la Descendants), you will want to point yer Chuck Taylors towards l’Esco for Jersey’s Doc Hopper with the hefty pop support of O Town’s the Steve Adamyk Band with Laureate and Audio Visceral taking up the sweat act slot. 4461 St-Denis, 9 p.m., $10

For something with a bit more heaviosity, Barfly plays host to Colonel Sun with Now Future and the Halfskins. 4062 St-Laurent, 10 p.m., free

If you are looking to dive into the murky depths of industrial, dark techno and other sounds that make your black ensemble look good, your tribe can be found at Katacombes watching NYC’s White Ring and Statiq Bloom with locals Brusquet Twins, Flight of the Black Bat (huzzah!) and DJs Pocaille, Na and Vj Pumpkin playing all of the colours of the dark. 1635 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $20/$16 advance

Sunday: Coil’s Drew McDowall on Friday night is nothing to sneeze at but my big pick of the week is the transcendental black metal of Wolves in the Throne Room, who will crush the Corona Theatre when they support mighty Norwegian black metallers Enslaved. Opening is Myrkur and Khemmis. While yer there, buy me a beer — I’ll be at the bar with the rest of the other old metal dudes. 2490 Notre-Dame W., 7 p.m., $33-$37

A good start before heading out to St-Henri for WITTR would be to show up to Sound Central at 4 p.m. to load up on some thisquietarmy as he holds down his month-long residency. Keeping things eclectic, thisquietarmy will be performing as a quartet for this one-time-only show. While you’re there, pick up the thisquietarmy photo book Conqueror, which includes a companion piece of a rare flexi seven-inch. 4486 Coloniale, 4 p.m., free

Current Obsession: Chris Whitley, Weed

jonathan.cummins@gmail.com