[POWER VIOLENCE] After a 15-year hiatus, the New Jersey pioneers of technically astounding, dissonant metal-tinged hardcore are back. Rorschach's brutal aesthetic is pretty well visually summarized by album cover photos of bodies hanging from their nooses and decapitated heads, but musically, it pulls from an eclectic range of influences from Black Flag to King Crimson. The band's intelligent lyrics, harsh vocals, virtuoso drumming and mind-spinning guitar work won the admiration of peers like Born Against and Man is the Bastard. The band's sophomore release, Protestant, is perhaps the most challenging and technically proficient hardcore record of all time: It paints a landscape of sonic mayhem, blistering riffs, tempo changes and ominous, lurching build-ups.

Where: Branx
Phone: 234-5683
Address: 320 SE 2nd Ave.
Website: http://myspace.com/branxpdx