WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, THOU, AND VIT – COLUMBUS, SEPT 4, 2011

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Sep 212011
 

(NCS writer BadWolf was on hand in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month to witness Wolves in the Throne Room live — and he brought with him photographer Nicholas Vechery, whose awesome pics illustrate this review.)

Wolves in the Throne Room are, without a doubt, the best smelling metal band I’ve ever seen. I say that with honesty and seriousness. They smell amazing.

But I’ll get back to that later. First things first, I saw Wolves alongside Thou and local openers Vit at Columbus’ Ravari Room, and thank god the place was empty when I got there so I could get a good look before the floor was completely packed with bodies.

Someone could get lost in that comely place, with its abundance of dark corners. Everything about the bar felt apropos for an underground ritual—burlap-wrapped red and orange lanterns hung from a high wooden ceiling, but the atmosphere was thick and dark. Huge brick arches framed the bar and every alcove. The place could be the remains of an illegal gin distillery from the 1920’s, with all of its vitality and character.(more after the jump . . .)

And speaking of character, Vit have it. These four Ohioans released their “-“ album via bandcamp over a year ago[physical release via Music Ruins Lives in May of ’11] , and while that record is excellent, it feels very restrained. Live, Vit left me breathless. Folk twang and perhaps a touch of early Led Zeppelin serpentine through the slow hardcore skeleton of their music—think a rust belt cousin of Isis, or a less metro, more trucker Have A Nice Life. Their vocalist thrashed and screamed in the crowd. Kudos to him for rocking on all cylinders, even during the long stretches of instrumental vamping that filled most of Vit’s time.

Unfortunately, Thou did not sync with me in a live setting. Thou are a band who’ve gotten a healthy dollop of critical acclaim in the last twelve months but I don’t hear it—the sound is there but not the songs, unless of course they are covering Nirvana. In Colombus, the six Louisianans played to one another instead of the crowd, with the exception of the vocalist, who struggled to keep a steady tone. Their rocking and bobbing carried enough spirit, but their myriad tones muddled one another in the air, leaving just that awful plane-takeoff-plus-drums sound (you know the one!). I hate to harp on a band that clearly loves their own music, has a DIY attitude and releases through a label that began in my hometown [Gilead Media], but I feel their blades need sharpening.

Then, Wolves set up. The band lit oil lamps and set them around the stage—all other lights, except for one beneath the drum kit, dimmed to near-darkness. They laid pine boughs over the stage, and everything smelled fresh, regenerated and transformed in some way. Then, they filled the room with smoke and, moments later, the sound of epic black metal lullabies.

Wolves in the Throne Room play stripped-down and tight in a live setting; there was no bassist; there was no female vocalist and therefore none of their operatic tracks; the audience was barely acknowledged; all the synth backing played through a Macbook, leaving no room for jamming or improvisation. Paradoxically, the feel of their show is gaseous. Both guitarists headbang so much and are so shrouded in artificial mist that they seem more like entities than men. LED lights shone up both guitar necks and cast huge shadows of their gyrating fingers onto the wall and ceiling. When they turned, the bright blue beams swept out over the crowd like the signals from two distant lighthouses on an unseen shore.

Wanderer(s) on a sea of fog indeed. Wolves in the Throne Room is all about setting a mood and following it to some obscure, ultimate conclusion—introversion is the point. At the side of the stage, a few people sat cross-legged and meditated to their music. I had to wonder, who are these people? Are they part of the same spiritual group Wolves is? More importantly, do they ‘get it’ more than I do?

Those meditators made the show for me: There is more to Wolves’ music than I currently understand, and because of them I want to get deeper. I will be seeing Wolves in the Throne Room again when they return.

  33 Responses to “WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, THOU, AND VIT – COLUMBUS, SEPT 4, 2011”

  1. Phro says:
    September 21, 2011 at 5:53 am

    I don’t know anything about any of the bands, so I looked up Wolves in the Throne Room on Wikipedia. They seem like an interesting band, but I’m not sure I would really appreciate the philosophical underpinnings of their music.

    That said, this was a great write up and the photos are AMAZING.

    Reply
    • Islander says:
      September 21, 2011 at 6:07 am

      I doubt my own objectivity about this, of course, but since you’ve mentioned the photos, I’ll chime in — they are indeed AMAZING. I’ve seen the Wolves once, and these photos effectively capture the weird atmosphere created by the lamps and the LED lights, which are even more riveting when the stage is shrouded in smoke at the same time. And Joseph is right about the incense-like smells that roll into the audience from the pre-set rituals and on through the performance. Put all that together with the overwhelming music, and the live show is quite an experience.

      Reply
  2. byrd36 says:
    September 21, 2011 at 6:05 am

    Damn, I hate to hear that Thou was a let down. I’ll still catch them if they ever come close enough to me, maybe they just had an off night.

    Reply
  3. MaxR says:
    September 22, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    That for turning me on to Vit, they’re great.

    I added their Bandcamp to the blog http://metalbandcamp.blogspot.com/2011/09/vit.html

    Reply

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