SHOW: Wolves in the Throne Room w/ Black Market Fetus and Lo-Ruhamah @ Vaudeville Mews 10/23/07

It’s a pretty rare thing to witness a performance so totally enrapturing as Wolves in the Throne Room’s show last night at the Vaudeville Mews, especially if you live in a godforsaken hellhole like Des Moines, Iowa. But, lucky we were to be graced by the presence of the Wolves in our midst, along with two killer opening bands in the form of local grind/thrash extremists Black Market Fetus and Kansas City atmospheric black metallers Lo-Ruhamah.

Wolves in the Throne Room’s setup is simple enough, two guitarists and a drummer who also handles keyboards (no bassist), but from this seemingly spartan arrangement the trio conjures forth a swirling, flowing vortex of pure sound. At once being everything you could ever want out of black metal but at the same time incorporating elements that might very well be derived from post-rock or british shoegaze, WITTR had no problems filling every nook and cranny of the Vaudeville Mews with their heavy yet ethereal songs. The way the band shapes its compositions is all about the building up of energy and tension which is released in explosive, cascading crescendos of hypnotizing blackened buzz, like a black metal-damaged version of Red Sparrowes or Pelican. Unlike the those two bands, however, Wolves features the additional catharsis of grim, rasping vocals to accompany their epic musical release. Although they were lacking the angelic female vocals that appear on their two albums, it didn’t take away from the performance in the slightest. If anything, it made the band seem that much more raw and ferocious.

Playing three of their monumental songs in a set that lasted just a little under an hour, Wolves in the Throne Room’s set was the kind of experience that transcends the typical live metal show, such is the mesmerizing quality of their performance.

Opening act Lo-Ruhamah was impressive, sort of coming off like a black metal version of Opeth or maybe even a close cousin of Agalloch. A very gifted young band that could definitely have a bright future. Direct support from Black Market Fetus was great as always. Having seen BMF several times over the years, it’s been great watching them develop from sort of sloppy yet passionate grindcore into a full-on, asskicking metal band. If anyone deserves to make it out of Dead Moines, it’s them.

Overall, this was a great show and shows that Dead Moines is still capable of great metal shows in spite of the loss of Hairy Mary’s. (which was lamented by several of the attendees)

(NOTE: I had every intention of wowing you all with some killer photos of the show, but I forgot my damn camera… LAME.)