Our Picks Recommended

Bull City Metal Fest with Hog, Caltrop, US Christmas, Royal Thunder, Sons of Tonatiuh, Colossus, Gollum, Horseback, Monsonia, Unholy Tongues, In the Year of the Pig 

For its five attention-nabbing months as the new music hall on Durham's Main Street, Casbah has mostly booked acts that fall into the wide and deep Americana well, including Jason Isbell, Robbie Fulks and Patty Larkin. This weekend, they proclaim—in true metal fashion, with a grunt, shout, howl and scowl—that this space is intended for more than seated songwriters behind six strings. The two-day, 18-band Bull City Metal Fest draws largely from local and regional pools, creating a diverse bill that pulls against the edges and expectations of metal. Though Colossus' dragon-breath metal might satisfy your notions of big solos and fantasy lyrics, bands such as Horseback, US Christmas and Caltrop treat your father's heavy metal like the beginning. Horseback applies steam to black metal, turning the menacing Scandinavian strain into a template for hard-won redemption. US Christmas adds touches of Swans, Spaceman 3 and extreme space rock to its heavy bursts, crafting epics out of synthesizer sprawls and double-drummer downpours. And Caltrop—a vehicle of tone, volume and amplifier worship—wraps Southern blues in body armor. Hog, Lurch, MAKE, In the Year of the Pig and Royal Thunder are the other highlights on a docket that could change minds about the Casbah and heavy metal. Tickets are $20–$24 for both days, or $12–$15 each day. —Grayson Currin