After the show, the sold-out crowd lingered outside, some fans stripping off their sweat-soaked shirts on the sidewalk, where just a few hours earlier the night's prospects had looked dim. Two hours after the doors were scheduled to open, a line stretched down the block, enflaming rumors that the notoriously unreliable group wouldn't show, following canceled gigs at the Sinclair, Royale, and T.T. the Bear's in recent years. But the band, on tour after announcing that its supposed breakup last year never occurred, was just keeping everyone guessing, as usual.

Obscuring the line between spontaneity and premeditation has served Death Grips well over the last several years, and whatever combination of the two produced the band's long-awaited Boston performance on Sunday night at the Paradise Rock Club, the results were explosive.


Death Grips can get away with pulling stunts like that for good reason: When it shows up, few other bands can rival its visceral power. Frontman MC Ride, eyes burning with wild intensity and wiry frame wrapped in tattoos, brought a raw, unpredictable physicality. He slinked and stalked across the stage, his expressive movements helping to compensate for vocals that were often lost deep in the echo-heavy mix.

Though Ride's force-of-nature performance dominated the stage, drummer Zach Hill and producer Andy Morin provided the structure for him. Hill's impressive technique grounded their sound in a punk aesthetic, while Morin injected layers of effects and guitar, both working to create soundscapes with virtually no room to breathe over a 70-odd minute set. Should Mad Max need a band for his next road trip, these guys would be a shoo-in.

Songs like the blistering "Guillotine" and Beastie-Boys-on-Four-Loko anthem "I've Seen Footage" burst to the surface in quick succession. Yet to focus on individual tracks is to miss the broader experience. With Death Grips, it's hard to tell where the performance stops.


DEATH GRIPS

At: Paradise Rock Club, Sunday

Martín Caballero can be reached at caballeroglobe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @_el_caballero.