Kvelertak

Kvelertak traffics in a chocolate-meets-peanut-butter sound: a blend of retrofied riff rawk—with nods to AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and even Boston—and dire extreme metal. At its best, the mix is manna for the open-minded headbangerati. Here, the Norwegian band, whose name means "chokehold," plays a sure-to-be-raucous gig (on a night off from a tour with the mighty Mastodon) in support of 2013's sturdy Meir.