• Kvelertak plays at Downtown Music Hall Tuesday.

KVELERTAK
7 p.m. Downtown Music Hall. $13 adv., $15 day of.

Dudes, y'all, this band Kvelertak? Have you heard them? For real, it's like this crazy mix of blistering, balls-to-the-wall hardcore, black metal, anthemic soccer-stadium rock, punk, classic rock, power-metal, pop-metal ... is there any genre of rock that this band is not ready and willing to throw into its ADD insanity blender? I think not.

You know what I like about them, besides the fist-pumpingly badass songs? They're sung in Norwegian. Because hell yes. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I hear more than enough people screaming at me through my headphones in English. Is it time for some Norwegian screamin'? You know it is! Dig it! Get on board the train to Kvelertak (which means "chokehold" in Norwegian). Check 'em out after the jump.

Also on this bill: Savannah, Ga., sludge titans Black Tusk, Canadian bruisers Cancer Bats and Little Rock prog-metal act Enchiridion.

• GWAR plays at Revolution Sunday night.

GWAR
8 p.m. Revolution. $17 adv., $20 day of.

If getting covered in all manner of fake blood, vomit and, uh, God only knows what other types of disgusting bodily fluids by some dudes wearing outrageous horror costumes and playing thrash metal sounds like a good time to you, odds are you're already a fan of intergalactic scumdogs GWAR.

If you're not familiar with Oderus Urungus, Balsac the Jaws of Death and the rest of the crew, let's just say you should probably wear some clothes you don't really care about to this show. So yeah, it's GWAR, which means that squares, prudes, scolds, nags, killjoys, wet blankets, stick-in-the-muds, prigs and other uptight sorts who get offended by things like coarse language, loud guitars and getting covered in gore probably want to steer well clear of this one.

Opening up are throwback thrashers Warbeast and party-metal practitioners Wilson.

• Jim Dandy performs at White Water Tavern Friday.

JIM DANDY, RWAKE, PALLBEARER
9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern.

It might not seem real obvious on first blush, but Southern rock legends Black Oak Arkansas exerted an enormous influence not just on their home-state younger brethren who went on to form the foundation of the Arkansas metal scene, but also much of the sludgy Southern metal that soundtracks bong-bubbling around the country.

I mean, Jim Dandy and the rest of the crew in Black Oak totally set the template for that longhair trouble-causing, loud-amp rabble-rousing, backwoods attitude and outlook, if not necessarily note-for-note sonic influence.

Dandy will perform a set with acoustic guitar accompaniment, while Rwake and Pallbearer will play their usual scorched-earth electric sets. I'm told Pallbearer is going to be leaving town the next day, bound for the continent and Holland's highly respected Roadburn festival.

Dandy was a guest on Rwake vocalist CT's radio show last week. Check out this photo.

• Clutch plays at Juanita's Monday.

CLUTCH
9 p.m. Juanita's. $22 adv., $25 day of.

According to my sources, the forthcoming Clutch album "Earth Rocker" is a more straight-ahead rocker, with any jamming tendencies reined in. I listened to the title track (the record's not out until March 19) and it's definitely a rocker. In their bio, the band members cite Professor Longhair as a big influence, along with Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Fugazi and Bad Brains which, hell yes.

"Maybe people expected us to go more acoustic or bluesy, but this album definitely showcases a riffs-in-your-face kind of style," guitarist Tim Sult said. "These songs ended up being faster and a bit more rocking." Of course, it's still Clutch, so expect big, groove-heavy riffin' galore.

Openers are ultra-bitchin' British doom-meisters Orange Goblin, Lionize and Scorpion Child.

• Living Sacrifice plays Saturday at Downtown Music Hall's Knuck Fest.

KNUCK FEST 2013
7 p.m. Downtown Music Hall. $8-$25.

In what is fast becoming a January tradition in Central Arkansas, Knuck Fest returns to transform the normally innocent confines of Downtown Music Hall into a vortex of anguished screams, guttural howls, ear-splitting amp-abuse and perhaps a lively moshpit or two.

Actually, I guess that would describe Downtown Music Hall on many nights, but these three will be especially loud and mosh-y, being overrun as they will be with punk, metal, hardcore and metalcore.

Here are the lineups: Friday features Bitter Times, Pose No Threat, Distiller, The Muddlestuds, Motives, Jungle Juice and Snakedriver.

Saturday has Soundcult, A Traitors Funeral, A Darkend Era, Strange as Fiction, Fallen Empire, Mainland Divide, Legions Await, Crankbait and Living Sacrifice.

Sunday sees brutal sets from Slamphetamine (killer name!), Rawhead, Deshoveled, Decay Awaits, Killing Souls and Fuck the Facts.

All in all, at $25 for a three-day pass, this is one of the best bargains in crushing, evil heaviness all year. And remember, all ye headbangers and mosh-maniacs — you can sleep when you're dead. The festivities continue at 4 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.

• Pinkish Black plays Downtown Music Hall Friday night.

PALLBEARER, PINKISH BLACK
8 p.m. Downtown Music Hall. $7.

Pinkish Black hail from Fort Worth (my old stomping grounds — shouts out to West Creek Elementary, Kincaid's Hamburgers and the Tandy Subway [R.I.P.]). Their self-titled debut full-length came out earlier this year on the Handmade Birds label and they recently signed to Century Media.

The shorthand on this duo is that they play doom metal with synthesizers in lieu of guitars. That's true, but this is doom metal with a host of other sinister sounds clawing their way into the mix, e.g. the buzzing evil of Suicide, the narcoticized droning of Spacemen 3, the sturm und drang of Joy Division at their most alienated and furious and the outer space shoegazing of maybe Bailterspace. Bursts of black metal filth rip to the surface occasionally ("Tell Her I'm Dead," for example), and there's a coldwave/goth streak throughout the record. The band has a penchant for the darkly dramatic.

Singer Daron Beck has a haunting baritone that often is stacked up on top of itself in multi-tracked walls, sounding like the chanting of the world's most bummed-out monks. Droning synths and a fiendish Theremin-like tone create huge waves of sound, reminding me at times of an evil, bad-trip version of Silver Apples. Every once in a while though, as on "Passerby" and "Tastes Like Blood," a ray of major key sunlight cuts through the dense clouds of hateful darkness for a moment.

Despite the preceding litany of comparisons, Pinkish Black really does possess a distinct, cohesive sound, one that's a good deal more than the sum of the band's influences.

Pallbearer, by this point, needs little in the way of introduction in these pages. The band has had a huge year, releasing a universally adored debut album and touring the country with some of metal's leading lights.

Opening the show are Russellville post-rockers Sound of the Mountain.

Check out "Tell Her I'm Dead" by Pinkish Black:

• Cannibal Corpse plays at Juanita's Saturday.

CANNIBAL CORPSE
9 p.m. Juanita's. $17 adv., $20 day of.

Ah Cannibal Corpse, one of the longest-running and most successful death metal bands ever. Besides earning the enmity of Sen. Bob Dole and a cameo in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," the pioneering New York-based death metal group is probably best known outside of metal circles for its gruesome, controversial album covers, nearly every one of which has required some toned-down version to pass muster with The Man and make its way to record store shelves, tucked somewhere in between Candlebox and The Carpenters.

I've got to say, though, that its album covers don't seem quite as shocking here in 2012, in the wake of years of generic, gory network procedurals and AMC's "The Walking Dead." On second thought, the cover for "Butchered at Birth" is still pretty foul by nearly any standard. The band's song titles, too, aren't exactly dinner table conversation: "Meat Hook Sodomy," "Hacksaw Decapitation," "A Skull Full of Maggots" and trust me, those are some of the tamer ones.

The band's latest, the simply titled "Torture," is another chapter in the ongoing story of Cannibal Corpse, one of death metal's true survivors.

Also performing are Cannibal Corpse tour mates Misery Index and Hour of Penance, and Arkansas's best death metal act, Vore.

• The Sword plays at Downtown Music Hall Thursday.

THE SWORD, GYPSYHAWK, EAGLE CLAW
7:30 p.m. Downtown Music Hall. $15 adv., $17 day of.

Gary slammed the door shut on his now ex-girlfriend and strode across the parking lot of the fleabag motel they'd been crashing at. He opened the back doors of his purple '71 Ford Econoline and tossed a satchel containing two kilos of pure, uncut Plutonian Nyborg into the hidden compartment he'd cut out of the panel above the back passenger wheel well.

The Nyborg's street value was 20 large. Just gotta boogie out to Albuquerque, hook up with Stash to make the sale and then head down to San Miguel for an extended holiday. Stay down there long enough to sort things out, forget about the last year and get his head straight. With that in mind, he pulled out the jernt he'd tucked into his bandana and fired it up as he was passing the city limits, endless highway stretching out before him. Adios, Wichita. Vaya con Dios.

Some tunes, man — that was what he needed now. He reached into the glove box and rifled around for an 8-track, pulling out one after another. James Gang? Good stuff, but eh, not right now. "Houses of the Holy?" Nah, been playing that one too much lately.

The next one hadn't been opened for some reason. "The Sword," he said aloud, eyeing the outer space warrior chick on the cover. "Huh, don't remember picking this up." He bit into the shrink wrap, tore it off and ka-chunked the tape into the player.

As the sun faded from the sky, Gary cranked the stereo. The Sword's bitchin' riffs and cosmic grooves washed over him. "Yeah man," he thought as the darkness fell around him, "things are gonna be all right."

• Snakedriver plays a record release show at White Water Tavern Wednesday.

SNAKEDRIVER
9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern.

Little Rock's Snakedriver kicks up a brutal, misanthropic hybrid of hardcore and sludge metal. They've got a split album out now with Tennessee's Laser Flames on the Great Big News, who played at Mutants of the Monster II a few weeks back (pick it up at the show for $8).

Over three songs, Snakedriver showcases a broader, bigger, meaner sound that's a step up from the demos the band recorded last year, which were already impressive. The band still essentially welds Southern sludge groove onto hardcore thrash violence, but these newer songs are more dynamic, with an awesome slow build on opener "Apex" that reminds me of late great Memphis legends His Hero is Gone.

There's some clean singing that crops up alongside the shredded-throat screams. It's a contrast that works well, partially because it catches you off guard. I'm excited to hear where Snakedriver goes from here.

Also playing are Little Rock hardcore mainstays God City Destroyers and Dakhma, a newer outfit that specializes in "cosmic sand metal."

Check out "Apex" by Snakedriver:

• Saint Vitus plays a huge metal show at Revolution Friday.

SAINT VITUS
8:30 p.m. Revolution. $16 adv., $20 day of.

Oh hell yes. This lineup right here is the envy of metal fiends all over the country, on account of it is unique to Little Rock.

Let's break it down: You've got Saint Vitus, a bona fide living legend of metal (I mean, dude: Wino is gonna be here!) whose latest album "Lillie: F-65" is an absolutely solid successor to the band's prime '80s albums. It's their first U.S. tour in damn near two decades.

Then you've got Oregonian tour mates Norska and Yob. Norska specializes in brutal sludgification that's not dissimilar to Yob, whose last album, "Atma," is without a doubt among the nastiest sounding doom albums of recent years, with a bruising, lo-fi sound that's just malicious.

Then you've got hometown heroes Rwake, whose "Rest" and "Voices of Omens" still absolutely kill me.

And then you've got the Southern sickos in Weedeater, whose latest grimy slab of downer-enshrouded misanthropy and drug-punnin' (title: "Jason the Dragon") was released last year, after a recording delay caused when — not joking — maniac frontman "Dixie" Dave Collins accidentally blasted off his big toe while cleaning his favorite shotgun. In a statement, Collins said, "It wasn't my intention to shoot off my big toe. This really fucking sucks and the pain is unbearable."

Well Weedeater ain't gonna let a little something like a shotgun mishap keep them down. So unless you too experience some sort of sudden and violent loss of appendage, don't miss this show.

• Hull plays Friday night at Mutants of the Monster II at Downtown Music Hall.

MUTANTS OF THE MONSTER FEST II
6 p.m. Downtown Music Hall. $7-$25.

All you metal fiends residing in Arkansas, or really anywhere remotely nearby, just need to go ahead and scrap any other plans you might've had for Labor Day weekend, because Mutants of the Monster II is going down and good Lord, it is going to be ridiculously killer.

Here's the lineup: Thursday is Vore, Fallen Empire, Dead to a Dying World, Ritual Decay and Severe Headwound.

Friday starts at 5 p.m. and includes Rwake, Hull, The Ascent of Everest, Broken Teeth, Dakhma, Beneath Oblivion, Sound of the Mountain and Chronic Ritual.

Saturday kicks off at 1 p.m. and features Pallbearer, Biipiigwan, Laser Flames On The Great Big News, Holy Angell, ((Thorlock)), Snakedriver, Tyrannosorceress, Peckerwolf, God City Destroyers and Madman Morgan.

Sunday also starts at 1 p.m. and closes out the weekend with Deadbird, Yakuza, Epoch Of Unlight, Sons of Tonatiuh, Savagist, Black Pussy, Red Shield, Fister, Crankbait, and Mainland Divide.

Whew! That right there is four days' worth of whiplash-inducing riff carnage. If you need something to help ease you through the mornings on Saturday and Sunday (and this seems likely), Downtown Music Hall is having breakfast and Bloody Mary specials, with acoustic tunes from Candler A. Wilkinson IV of Austin.

The daily cover charge ranges from $7-$10, but you can get a four-day pass bracelet for $25 and save yourself some money.

• Windhand plays White Water Tavern Wednesday with Iron Tongue and Pallbearer.

IRON TONGUE, PALLBEARER, WINDHAND
10 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.

In case you missed it, the Times last week published a feature about Iron Tongue and their forthcoming record, produced by metal maestro Billy Anderson for release on Neurot Recordings. The album won't be out until February, but it'll be worth the wait. Until then, you can enjoy the Iron Tongue live show, which is killer.

Pallbearer's incredible "Sorrow and Extinction" is one of 2012's best albums of any genre and is sure to top many critics' year-end lists come December. It's getting a vinyl release Aug. 28 on 20 Buck Spin. In a couple weeks, they'll hit the road as the headliner for an 11-day tour sponsored by Scion A/V, with Seattle's Samothrace and Atlanta's Royal Thunder. This show is Pallbearer's first with drummer Mark Lierly, who's played in a number of bands, including Soophie Nun Squad, Sugar and the Raw and R.I.O.T.S.

Windhand is a killer five-piece out of Richmond, Va. They conjure up smoked-out doomy atmosphere and bitchin' riffs aplenty on their self-titled album, released back in March.