Baghdad beat rocks Johnny Brenda's

'Are you ready for the sound of war?" screamed the singer at Johnny Brenda's Thursday night. It was the kind of boastful introduction that might preface a song by almost any heavy-metal band. But Faisal Mustafa, the lead singer of Acrassicauda, wasn't speaking metaphorically. Rather than channeling rage at social conventions or authority figures, the band's music has its origins in its native Iraq.

Although its members are now resettled Stateside, Acrassicauda was formed in a Baghdad basement during the last years of the Saddam Hussein regime. Their lyrics were confined to praising the ruling despot, but their music drew from a host of loud, fast and angry Westerners: Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Slipknot.

After the U.S. invasion, their songs grew angrier and more explicit, and the band drew the attention of a Vice magazine writer. A documentary film called Heavy Metal in Baghdad followed, endearing them to headbangers worldwide but also drawing the unwanted attention of Islamic extremists in Syria and Turkey, where they were temporarily in exile. Now, with a four-song EP called Only the Dead See the End of the War, they've embarked on their first U.S. tour, starting at Johnny Brenda's.

Only a careful perusal of the EP's lyric sheet gives a hint to the content of songs like "Message From Baghdad" and "Garden of Stones." Mustafa's gravelly roar obliterates individual words - sung in English, not that it matters - although a handful of fist-pumpers in the crowd knew enough to sing along.

But regardless of where they hail from, Acrassicauda's power came across (extremely) loud and clear. They've made huge strides since the documentary, coalescing into a tight and supple outfit capable of churning out thudding riffs one minute and lyrical solos the next.

Philadelphia-based tribute act Misstallica may not hail from a war zone, but as four women stepping into the testosterone-fueled world of thrash metal, they doubtless know their way around hostile territory. Formed through the Paul Green School of Rock Music, where bassist Teddi Tarnoff worked for eight years, they devote themselves exclusively to Metallica's early years, before they slowed their tempos, cut their hair, and turned from singing about evil to complaining about their personal lives.

If vocalist Gina Gleason couldn't quite muster the equivalent of James Hetfield's tortured growl, she and fellow guitarist Courtney Cox (no, not that one) proved more than capable of executing the band's lightning-fast riffs, their right hands blurring as they sliced through sixteenth notes.

In preparation for a United Kingdom tour, the foursome tried out a couple of songs from the later and normally verboten "black album," though the pumped-up crowd reserved its loudest screams for oldies like "Master of Puppets" and "Orion," a dazzling long-form workout that showed off their formidable chops. Drawn out past an hour and a half by a crowd that wouldn't let them leave the stage, Misstallica proved themselves better at pleasing Metallica fans than the band itself.