Drawing at times from the crushing math-rock of Don Caballero as their better-documented metal influences, Chicago’s instrumental trio Russian Circles grows more nuanced with each release. The group’s latest, 2009’s Geneva, dramatically tones down the bruising riffs of their 2006 debut, Enter, and its 2008 follow-up, Station, instead emphasizing softer, post-rock passages that only heighten the songs’ almost unbearable tension.
Russian Circles w/ Sweet Cobra and Death Dream
Tonight @ Cactus Club, 9 p.m.
