Formed in London in 1978 at the unlikely intersection of punk, metal and dance music, Killing Joke’s trip has been longer and stranger than most. Singer and keyboardist Jaz Coleman doesn’t fit stereotypes (he’s a high-caste Brahmin and classically trained pianist). Over the past three-plus decades, they’ve relocated to Iceland in anticipation of the Apocalypse, become immersed in Aleister Crowley’s vision of the occult, and sued Nirvana, claiming the “Come as You Are” guitar riff was stolen from KJ’s “Eighties”; a decade later, needing a drummer, they hired Dave Grohl. The original lineup–Coleman, guitarist Kevin “Geordie” Walker, bassist Martin “Youth” Glover, and drummer Paul Ferguson–reunited last year for the first time since ’82 to record their 13th studio release, Absolute Dissent, which recalls the fury of the good old days. With SMP, The Crying Spell. MICHAEL MAHONEY

Wed., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., 2010