Heartless, last year’s release from monsters of doom Pallbearer, feels totally old school. The track “I Saw the End” is doomy and dirty, if perhaps a bit more shreddy than I prefer, and the slow and brooding “Dancing in Madness” is melodic and delightful — yes, all 11 minutes of it. There’s something a little eye-roll-inducing about a song that includes lyrics about a serpent whispering and a bleak sacred monster and a “self-fulfilling doomsday.” But what good doom-metal imagery doesn’t make you roll your eyes from time to time? Also playing this weekend at The Basement East are Philadelphia rockers Ruby the Hatchet as well as Spotlights, a heavy husband-and-wife duo from Pittsburgh. AMANDA HAGGARD
Pallbearer w/Ruby the Hatchet & Spotlights
