Flogging Molly — who in these parts will always be known as those other blue-collar Irish punk lads — nabbed a cameo by Lucinda Williams (on a tin-whistle drinking song, "Factory Girls") for their new Within a Mile of Home (SideOneDummy), which debuted in the Top 20 on the Billboard charts last week. They’re at Lupo’s at the Strand (401-331-5876) in Providence tonight (September 30) and at Avalon (617-262-2424) in Boston on Friday, with former Dropkick Murphys singer Mike McColgan’s band Street Dogs opening both shows.

Narrated by Spearhead’s Michael Franti, The Fourth World War is a powerful, if one-sided, argument linking international anti-globalization resistance in Chiapas, Argentina, South Korea, Palestine, and elsewhere. Even if you question its logic, the film’s footage of civil disobedience, police riots, and outright revolution are a useful corrective to mainstream media oversight. It screens Saturday at Wesleyan University (860-685-2000) in Middletown, Connecticut; Monday at AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence; and Wednesday morning at Northeastern University’s Shillman 135 (617-373-2000) in Boston.

The Olympia dyke-metal trio King Cobra’s homonymous disc on Troubleman rips like a cross between Slayer’s South of Heaven and Hole’s Pretty on the Inside. Their tour with Triple M Threat and Montreal’s Lesbians on Ecstasy hits Vixen (508-487-6424) in Provincetown on Sunday, AS220 on Monday, and the Midway Café (617-524-9038) in Jamaica Plain on Wednesday.

Underground-metal fans have been touting Dillinger Escape Plan as the future of metal since the band’s debut EP, but DEP finally lived up to the hype on their recent Miss Machine (Relapse), where their cold, clinical thrash calculus is disrupted by spontaneous bursts of melody and anarchy. They headline a six-band bill including Every Time I Die and Zao tonight (September 30) at Toad’s Place (203-624-TOAD) in New Haven and Sunday at the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester. It isn’t easy being the guy who replaced Ozzy in Black Sabbath, but former Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio has long had his admirers, and now groups like Roadrunner’s 3 Inches of Blood are attempting to revive his mystical, shrieking school of rock. His solo group, Dio, provide a history lesson at the Palladium on Friday, with support from Anthrax — who long before getting caught in moshes and maturing into a modern rock band got their start as Dio-style screamers on 1984’s Fistful of Metal.

Karate will return to Cambridge next month for a two-night record-release party for their new Pockets (Southern), but in the meantime, they’re at the Century Lounge (401-751-2255) in Providence on Friday, the Space Gallery (207-828-5600) in Portland on Saturday, and at Bar (203-495-8924) in New Haven on Sunday. Former Come guitarist Chris Brokaw opens all three dates.