Coalesce

It’s pretty awesome when a band that’s been around for 16+ years is making the most mind-blowing music of their career. Kansas City’s Coalesce has always been known as a trailblazer in brutally technical, no-nonsense hardcore, full of hoarse-throated vocals, grinding bass lines, sinewy guitars, and whiplash time changes. Now, after Lord knows how many breakups, indefinite hiatuses, and lineup changes, Coalesce is as virile and dangerous a beast as ever. The band seems intent on writing more epic, literate, and slightly more traditional (for Coalesce, at least) arrangements that allow their songs more room to breathe and seethe. In a scene known for jock-y muscle-flexing and posturing, Coalesce is much more intent on flexing their minds. With Converge, Black Breath, Lewd Acts. GREGORY FRANKLIN

Thu., May 13, 7 p.m., 2010