It makes sense that the Philadelphia-based power trio the Burning Brides should have introduced themselves to the world outside Pennsylvania with a stint opening for So Cal wake-and-bake rockers Queens of the Stone Age earlier this year. On Fall of the Plastic Empire, a debut that was originally released on the tiny Philly indie File 13 last year before V2 picked the band up and reissued the disc, the Brides do to garage rock what the Queens have done to stoner metal, zeroing in on the genre’s underexploited melodic center and expanding from there, making unapologetically aggressive music that seems to get sweeter with every smack. "Arctic Snow," like most of the songs here, churns through verses of grinding guitars and frontman Dimitri Coats’s high-pitched whine before erupting into a pure-pop chorus as immediate as a Hives single. Empire also doesn’t want for genuine psychedelic freakouts, like the one that envelops the end of "At the Levity Ball." It’s the Brides’ way of saying that heavy music can offer both rebellion and redemption.

(The Burning Brides open for the Anniversary next Tuesday, October 22, downstairs at the Middle East. Call 617-864-EAST.)