Critic's Choice

Atmosphere with brutality isn't an easy combination to pull off. But the Autokinoton makes it look effortless -- that is, as effortless as a brain-bruising eruption of noise and menace could possibly be. After forming two years ago and undergoing a ton of lineup changes, the quintet has finally settled into its sound: a seething mass of agitated riffs and fucked-over idealism on par with Converge or the National Acrobat. And although the spasms of singer Joe Triscari are enough to make the dead rise up and jump in the pit, the band's songs are edged with a penumbra of textured noise and ambient decay that pull it into a much more spectral and experimental realm. The Autokinoton's recorded debut, an eponymous EP from earlier this year, is being re-released on a twelve-inch vinyl album in January, on which its five viciously heavy tracks will be augmented by interludes of shadowy, processed sound. Catch the band on Tuesday, November 23, at Rock Island with fellow hardcore deconstructionists Isis and These Arms Are Snakes. It's sure to kick up an epic darkness.