Nader Sadek

Santos Party House; Sat 21

Nader Sadek

Photograph: Paul Birman

The art world and the metal underground have cross-pollinated freely since at least 1999, when Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 2 juxtaposed footage of Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo with the ominous buzz of bees. More recently, the dronesmiths of Sunn O))) have capitalized on this unlikely marriage, in the process abstracting metal almost beyond recognition. B’doun O’mr (Ageless), a performance piece by Egyptian artist Nader Sadek—who has fashioned unsettlingly ghoulish masks for Sunn O))) collaborator Attila Csihar—transmits its heady message concerning female oppression in the Middle East without compromising the genre’s core brutality. Former Morbid Angel frontman Steve Tucker (who made a vocal cameo in Cremaster 2), Behold…the Arctopus guitarist Mike Lerner and Cryptopsy drummer Flo Mounier join Sadek onstage, ensuring that the work stays rooted in deadly speed and savage virtuosity.—Hank Shteamer

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