If the term “post-rock” wasn’t already taken, it would be a perfect descriptor for the fractured, future-warped music of Polyphia , a largely instrumental foursome who take virtuosic guitar music into places that would melt older shredders’ minds. Even as fleet-fingered guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage keep pushing guitar technique forward, they’ve evinced minimal interest in carrying on any rock lineage, and are instead obsessed with bringing influences from pop, EDM, hip-hop, and video-game soundtracks into a ferocious live-band context. Older-school shredder Steve Vai paid his respects with a guest appearance on their last album, 2022’s Remember That You Will Die , and longtime Kanye West producer Mike Dean is one of their heroes and a fan in his own right — he had Henson and LePage open for him at a rare live show in 2024.

The band’s just-released new album, Be Not Afraid , is as quirky as ever, but it has some of their heaviest songs yet, with more overt nods to metal than usual.…