This Week's Recommended Shows: The Pogues, Juliette Lewis, Junior Boys

Prong, Wednesday, October 7: Throughout their initial run, 198697, Prong repeatedly redefined the parameters of metal and, in six landmark albums, subverted the genres limits in a perpetual search for fresh hybrids that sound remarkably cohesive and vital today. The earliest material by Prongoriginally formed by two CBGB employees and a former Swans membercame off as little more than a quick-and-dirty amalgam of thrash and hardcore. But the bands ultimate strength lay in its ability to radically reconfigure the thrash template, yet still retain a definable thrash essence. Moreover, guitarist/bandleader Tommy Victor underlined nuances in the expression of angst that few headbangers have revisited since. For all their vitriol, Prong (unlike the majority of their peers) never came from a place of sheer aggression. Victors frustrations instead seemed driven by powerlessness, and the bands claustrophobic, cowed, andby Victors own descriptionvulnerable music paradoxically captured the anxiety and danger of urban life without explicitly referencing the gritty environment it was born from. In 2000 Victor revived the band with all new players; now, with a stable lineup more or less intact, Prong verges on recapturing the fiercely enterprising spirit of its classic catalog. With Soulfly, Cattle Decapitation, Mutiny Within. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. 6:30 p.m. $20 adv./$25 DOS. All ages. Note by SABY REYES-KULKARNI