On Thursday night at the Middle East Downstairs, a modest but rapt crowd scrunched to the front of the room as the Brooklyn trio Bear in Heaven let forth what felt like a storm system of crushing drones. And with the accompanying wash of white strobes and thick gauze of stage smoke, it sort of looked like one, too. Making only a few dips into their 2009 debut, 'Red Bloom of the Boom' ('Has anyone here ever even listenedto that one?' asked vocalist Jon Philpot sheepishly; a couple of hoots sounded in reply), they stuck to a brisk run through their lauded latest offering, 'Beast Rest Forth Mouth' - itself a clinic in the band's unique update of prog rock: light on the technical histrionics, heavy on just about everything else. Highlights like 'You Do You,' 'Dust Cloud,' and 'Lovesick Teenagers' rose and roared - synthy arpeggiations losing themselves in heaves of feedback, drummer Joe Stickney and bassist/guitarist Adam Wills locking into thunderous synch, and Philpot's vocals - which don't bellow or belt so much as punctuate - cutting through the din like an efficient little blade. It was enough to momentarily shoo off lingering thoughts of a thrilling performance given by Brooklyn four-piece Twin Shadow just before. It's been a few years since frontman George Lewis Jr. left Boston (where, along with working the door at the Middle East, he also helmed the stunningly innovative Mad Man Films), and since that departure, he's refined his skronky rock energies into a far smoother sound with Twin Shadow. The sunshiney 'At My Heels' enjoyed a fiercer realization than it got on the band's self-titled debut, edging into scruffy early-XTC territory with Lewis's scratchy guitar and coy vocals; 'When We're Dancing' bloomed from chill bedroom pop into straight-up climactic rock; and album standout 'Slow' - one of the year's most powerful little pop songs - came alive in its more aggressive treatment, with Lewis shouting 'I don't want to/believe, or be/in love!' as the song surged and broke over him like a great, noisy wave. 