Melt your brain, manage your rage at Behemoth show

Death metal, the bane of high school principals and church pastors everywhere, is obviously not going anywhere. Despite the best efforts of Tipper Gore and later anti-obscenity demagogues, the genre is more popular now than ever, and has also spread out across the world. It has taken root throughout Europe, especially in Eastern Europe. Perhaps after decades under communist regimes, Eastern Europe is embracing a genre that is, at its core, irreverent, challenging and anti-authoritarian.

Behemoth, a Polish band that is opening for the Cleveland-based metal band Chimaira at Ushuaia on Sunday, plays the blackest, most evil metal you’ll ever encounter in Orono. It’s played at a brain-meltingly loud volume, and with past and present band members named Desecrator, Baal and Inferno, you know it’s death metal.

Searching for the band on Google, I find fans referring to Behemoth as “brutal,” “brutal,” and again, “brutal.” Suffice it to say, you’re not bringing grandma to this show. Lead vocalist and songwriter Nergal is not a singer as much as he’s the musical equivalent of rolling up to the Dairy Queen window and ordering a fire ant blizzard made with bleach ice cream.

For some reason, Behemoth and other extreme metal bands have legions of fans. Outwardly, pounding, sludgy guitar riffs and incoherent growls don’t seem to be something most people would want to listen to. It might be a way to release anger. Maybe you just like your music loud, loud, loud. Either way, it’s a growing genre that gradually has become one of the most fertile and active scenes in contemporary music. And that’s as true for rural Maine as it is for Poland.

Elsewhere, area musicians are pulling together for yet another Hurricane Katrina benefit, this time to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the Backbeat Fund, for New Orleans musicians affected by the flood.

Singer-songwriters Blue Gene, Juliane Gardner, Frank Gotwals and Bill Gawley, and local band Pushing Zero will perform on Saturday at the Blue Hill town hall auditorium. Blue Gene, a Philadelphia native, now lives in East Orland and plays his blues-inspired folk at coffeehouses and restaurants Down East. Gotwals, a Stonington lobsterman by day and folk musician by night, has self-released three albums, including his most recent, “Beach Glass.”

Pushing Zero, based out of Stockton Springs, plays tried-and-true alternative rock that would fit in nicely on any modern rock radio playlist. Singer and principal songwriter George Skala has been following his rock ‘n’ roll dream for several years in various bands, and his confessional, hard-hitting songs are the result of fine-tuning and personal dedication to his craft. Pushing Zero, formed in May of 2003, released an EP, “Rite of Passage,” this summer. It is a matured, melodic offering, full of lyrical musings and anthemic riffs. The band’s Web site, www.pushingzero.com, says that the group has recorded enough music for two full-length albums. Expect to see the long-awaited LP “The Chosen” in stores in the coming months.

Jazz vocalist Gardner and singer-songwriter Bill Gawley, who holds down a weekly gig at Geddy’s in Bar Harbor, round out the bill for the benefit. Donations are encouraged at the door, so bring a few bucks to help out hurricane relief efforts.

Chimaira, Behemoth and supporting acts Himsa and The Agony Scene will play at Ushuaia in Orono on Sunday, Oct. 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15, or $17 at the door. Information can be found at www.eye9d.com. The Blue Hill town hall auditorium is on Route 15 in the center of town, and music starts at 6 p.m. on Saturday the 15th. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.