Sheer Mag subverts hair metal tropes

The Philly quintet rocks out with ‘Need to Feel Your Love’

Sheer Mag By Michael Wolever
Photo credit: Michael Wolever
SHEER MAG

While synth pop and folk rock have been successful fodder for contemporary indie bands, ’70s hard rock and ’80s hair metal have remained untouched due to the problematic excess and misogyny of its principal players. Yet the Philadelphia quintet Sheer Mag revives the screaming guitar harmonies and raw energy of bands like Ratt, White Snake, AC/DC, et al, while stripping away the chauvinism. On the group’s debut record Need to Feel Your Love, Sheer Mag drives an ecstatic rock ‘n’ roll sound headfirst into ragged, lo-fi production. Songs such as “Suffer Me” showcase an ability to subvert the cock-rock tropes of glam metal with lyrics lamenting the state-sanctioned violence of the Stonewall Riots while maintaining the genre’s scuzzy guitars and ferocious drumming.

With Power Trip, Fury and Red Death. $15. 7 p.m. (doors). Mon., April 30. Masquerade. 75 MLK Jr. Drive S.W. 404-577-8178. www.masq.com.