Lighter side of black metal

I Am Ghost isn’t so much black metal as grey metal.

The L.A.-based quintet is a part of that rare breed of post-emo-core metal bands that gracefully run the line of powerfully technical speed metal that is both skin-shredding raw and intricately melodic.

The sound that I Am Ghost so well mastered on 2006’s “Lover’s Requiem,” is going to be tough to reclaim on the forthcoming followup, “Those We Leave Behind.” Due this October, “Those We Leave Behind” marks a lineup change brought on by the departure of female vocalist and violinist Kerith Telestai, and the addition of vocalist Steve Juliano.

Juliano is a regular contributor to weekly UK pub Kerrang Magazine and former singer for goth-rock band The Silence. His lyrics are a sick twist of unreal tales of death and decay that repeatedly stab at compliance, complacency and conformity.

It’s music for people who can’t sleep at night and wander half alive by day.

I Am Ghost brings hardcore-melodic translucence tonight at 5:30 p.m. to an all-ages onslaught at The Blvd., 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., with Eyes Set To Kill, No Bragging Rights, and The Urgency. Tickets are $10 through TicketsWest, www.ticketswest.com (509) 325-SEAT.

Shim, Shim, Many

One of Spokane’s favorite indie-rock imports from Seattle, Shim appears in a double feature on Saturday.

The shining, scream-and-shout arena rock will be sounding first at the peak of Spokane’s version of the Capitol Hill Block Party, Madison Street Music Fair at Empyrean Coffee House, 154 S. Madison St.

Then, for the 21-and-older crowd, Shim will set up its signature light show at 9:30 p.m. at The Blvd., with fellow road dogs Meteorites Attack and The Mickie Slippers. Cover is $7 for The Blvd Show.

Here’s the Madison Street Music Fair breakdown:

Saturday inside (featuring DJ Peter Parker): Space Age Fur (1:45 p.m.), Don’t Tell Sophie (3 p.m.), Junk Face (4:15 p.m.), Slowly We Survive (5:30 p.m.), Pickwick (6:45 p.m.), Cyrus Fell Down (8 p.m.), Ice Age Cobra (9:30 p.m.), Oil of Angels (midnight)

Saturday outside: M(o)usa (1 p.m.), Joel Smith and the Hands of Plenty (2 p.m.), Karli Fairbanks and the Pretty Flowers (3:05 p.m.), The Beautiful Clarks (4:10 p.m.), Lafayette (5:15 p.m.), The Lonely H (6:20 p.m.), The Globes (7:25 p.m.), Shim (8:45 p.m.).

Sunday inside (featuring DJ Orange): Lord Kelvin (3 p.m.), The Merrick Diaries (4:30 p.m.), Meteorites Attack (5:45 p.m.), Hallelujah Soul Explosion (7:15 p.m.), Monuments (8:45 p.m.).

Sunday outside: The B-Radicals (1:15 p.m.), Go Man Gos (2:20 p.m.), Finn Riggins (3:25 p.m.), Spoken with poetry featuring Kurt Olsen and Zack Graham (4:10 p.m.), The Groove Patrol (5:15 p.m.), James Pants (6:30 p.m.), Locke (7:45 p.m.).

Advance tickets for the Madison Street Fair are $14 for two days, $9 per day; tickets at the gate are $16 for two days, $12 per day, through Empyrean Coffee House.