Photo: Laal Shams

Considering that bassist-composer Eivind Opsvik excels at a plaintive, placid sort of jazz-pop fusion, you’d hardly expect the imprint he runs to embrace metal. But two discs recently issued by Opsvik’s Loyal Label—I Don’t Hear Nothin’ but the Blues by saxist Jon Irabagon and drummer Mike Pride (reviewed in this week’s TONY) and the self-titled debut by Seabrook Power Plant (recently featured on the Volume)—are not only among the year’s finest experimental releases, they’re also among the heaviest. That intensity came to the fore over consecutive nights at local release parties for each record, as Irabagon and Pride, above, hit Cornelia Street Café on Monday, and Seabrook Power Plant played Zebulon the following evening.

Photo: Laal Shams

Irabagon and Pride, above, offered an exhilarating live translation of their new disc. As on I Don’t Hear Nothin’…, the pair performed one continuous piece lasting nearly an hour. And like the record, the set was improvised yet tightly controlled, bringing to mind a conversation in a language whittled down to just a few incisive phrases. Like a robot on the fritz, Irabagon toggled obsessively between gruff wails and lithe runs. Meanwhile, Pride indulged his own spastic muse, firing off a marathon string of tiny rhythmic fragments: a few bars of double-kick-abetted blastbeats, a hint of syncopated funk, even the indelible opening lick from Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison.” The musicians’ approaches clashed violently, but with purpose, and the result was a marvel of sustained gritted-teeth tension with no release. (And there was something perversely satisfying about watching Irabagon, winner of 2008’s Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition—a contest that recognizes excellence in mainstream jazz—indulging in such a frenetic and abrasive experiment.)

Photo: Hank Shteamer

At Zebulon Tuesday night, Seabrook Power Plant was equally rousing, despite presenting more of a conventionally united front. Brandon Seabrook, a frequent collaborator of local avant-trumpet star Peter Evans, leads the band on guitar and banjo, while his brother Jared drums. Another Evans associate, Tom Blancarte, plays double bass. As heard on the new CD, the band’s bombastic, airtight tunes offer a fascinating mixture of loopiness and brutality. At Zebulon, volume was key: Jared Seabrook pummeled his kit mercilessly, playing up the ever-present metallic overtones in the band’s repertoire. The almost comically speedy whirr of his brother’s amplified banjo offset the crushing grooves. Near the end of the gig, Brandon traded that plinky ax for guitar, indulging in menacing slo-mo riffage. The set had plenty of vigorous jazz-style improvisation, but what remained ringing in the ears was that doomy, unmistakably Sabbathesque texture.