The Best L.A. Metal Concerts to See In March

Saturday, Mar 2
Meshuggah
The Wiltern
"I Am Colossus" is both the title track of Meshuggah's 2012 album Koloss, and the mission statement of the Swedish metal group -- after all, their off-kilter polyrhythmic riffs and drums have influenced dozens of bands. Their sound is anchored by the fantastically harsh screams of vocalist Jens Kidman, who pulverizes all into dust with his throat-shredding approach. With Weekly favorites Animals As Leaders and Intronaut.

Saturday, Mar 9
Marduk
The Vex Arts L.A.
Norway gets most of the credit for the early '90s rise of second wave black metal, but over in Sweden Marduk were busy putting together their own wicked brew. While many Norwegian black metal bands have introduced other elements into their sounds or imploded completely, Marduk has mostly stayed the course during their 20-year existence, remaining focused on delivering diabolic black metal blasphemy, as evident on their newest album, 2012's Serpent Sermon.

Saturday, Mar 9
Batillus
Five Stars Bar
This NYC quartet infuses the sludgy riffs of doom stalwarts like Crowbar with an industrial flavor that makes said riffs sound even more suffocating than usual. Everything about the act -- from the caustic howls of vocalist Fade Kainer to the pounding smashes of drummer Geoff Summers - is engineered to be loud. And if early music from the band's second full-length album Concrete Sustain is any indication, the industrial hopelessness will be amplified even more.

Tues, Mar 12
Deceased
The Joint
Deceased band leader King Fowley pens otherworldly death-thrash odes to creepy and crawly things, which share more with old E.C. Comics tales and the creepier side of Edgar Allen Poe than with the shock-and-gore approach of bands like Cannibal Corpse. Many metal groups have mined tales of zombie attacks and other supernatural horror stories since Fowley first formed the group in 1986. But Deceased was not only one of the first to take that approach, they're still the best at it today.

Friday, Mar 15
Volbeat
House of Blues Sunset Strip
A typical Volbeat album -- such as 2010's Beyond Hell/Above Heaven --expertly welds together riffs that would make Slayer fans mosh madly, with catchy sing-alongs that invoke Johnny Cash in Folsom Prison. It's a combination that shouldn't work, but Volbeat makes it work. Music from their new album Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies has yet to surface, but we can't imagine they will stray too far from their (winning) formula.