Fronted by an imposing Australian ex-pat who uncoils like a viper and dates Yeah Yeah Yeahs hottie Karen O, NYC no-wave revivalists Liars connected ESG’s sproingy minimalist funk and the Birthday Party’s horror-film postpunk on a lurchy embolism of a record titled They Threw Us in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (Mute). For the follow-up, the band ditched their Midwestern rhythm section, retreated to a house somewhere in the Jersey woods, read up on Walpurgisnacht and the Silver Apples, and produced They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (also Mute), a way-hysterical panic-bleat concept disc about 16th-century witch hunts. It won’t be out until February, but you can get a preview when Liars set out to redefine your idea of a, well, cult band on a brief tour that hits T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge on Sunday — with Boston’s most savage rock and roll imps, Tunnel of Love — and Ultra Live (401-454-LIVE) in Providence on Monday. Opening both dates are Young People, another bewitched outfit, their spooked Americana backing singer Katie Eastburn’s ghost-bitten country-blues moans with creaky, cracked, avant-rock squalls from former Pink and Brown guitarist Jeff Rosenberg. Their debut, War Prayers is out now on Dim Mak.

Descending upon us this week, not unlike a plague of witches, is the holiday radio-festival season. Rancid were here just a half-second ago, packing Avalon for a sweaty evening of greatest hits and new faves from their return-to-form Indestructible (Warner Bros/Hellcat). But they’re back to do it again at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Tuesday, heading up a bill with our favorite Morrissey-worshipping emo band, Brand New, as well as Something Corporate and Yellowcard. Next door at the Met Café (401-861-2142) that night, Story of the Year and 3 Days Grace — the latest pop-punk entries from Maverick and Jive, respectively — team with Kill Hannah, the band who appear most likely to inherit Chicago’s arena-grunge crown from the Smashing Pumpkins. Rancid and Brand New also hit Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Wednesday; 3 Days Grace play the Webster Theatre (860-246-8001) in Hartford next Friday, December 5.

Elsewhere, Boston’s vaudevillean chamber-rock oddities the Dresden Dolls take their harlequin-punk miniatures on the road for gigs at Harlow’s Pub (603-924-6365) in Peterborough, New Hampshire, on Saturday; the Paradise Lounge (617-562-8814) in Boston on Monday; and the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Tuesday. Thrash-metal vets Anthrax kick off a tour at Club Liquid (978-840-3500) in Leominster on Saturday. Kingston dancehall heavy Beenie Man is at Toad’s Place (203-562-5589) in New Haven on Monday and at Avalon on Tuesday. And Beth Orton supports her remixes-and-rarities disc The Other Side of Daybreak (Astralwerks), including a haunting take on the 5 Stairsteps’ "O-o-h Child," at the State Theatre (207-780-8265) in Portland on Wednesday with Kathleen Edwards.