Music I Liked: Decibel Magazine Tour

In October, I resolved to go to a concert every month. I haven’t quite kept that resolution. In February there were three concerts I couldn’t decide among and ended up missing them all. One of the shows under consideration for March was the Decibel Magazine Tour. The logistics weren’t great; a Tuesday at El Corazon. The timing wasn’t great; I had a busy schedule the next day, no babysitter, and my leg was hurting. But at the last minute I dragged my ass out of the house. I’m so glad I did.

There are always a lot of bands on the bill at heavy metal shows, and if I’ve heard of even half of them I consider it a good lineup. There are four bands playing the traveling Decibel Fest this year, and all four of them are bands I like and listen to regularly at home. That makes it a killer lineup. The last time so many bands I like shared a stage (Eistnaflug excepted) was Decibel’s the 2014 Decibel Magazine tour.

Khemmis

I was in the bar when the first band came on promptly at 7 p.m. and I couldn’t see the stage. But I knew it was Khemmis because they are on high rotation at my house. If Corrosion of Conformity and Pallbearer had a love child, that beautiful, doomy, groovy baby would sound like Khemmis. I bought a physical CD and for the first time in literally years, changed out the disc in my car.

Myrkur

Myrkur’s set began with a solitary five-string bass, bowed like Jonsi’s guitar and slowly built to a screeching black metal frenzy. I wouldn’t have expected Myrkur to be a good follow up to Khemmis, but Khemmis’ incense-infused set was like the drug ingested in preparation for Myrkur’s folk magic. Her witchy take on black metal is among the most interesting music I’ve heard in a long while. The fact that the project puts cvlt panties in a bunch because it’s created by woman with an indie-rock background is just a side benefit.

Myrkur’s fans stood out in the slowly growing crowd for their excellent hygiene and eyeliner skills. Her music stood out for its otherworldliness and innovation in an often stagnant genre. Like a lot of my favorite bands, when I listen to Myrkur, I feel like it’s reminding me of something else, but I can’t ever identify a precedent. Myrkur, feels familiar, but doesn’t sound like anyone else. I like the stock sounds of black metal, but I can rarely identify the band. I can always tell when Myrkur comes up on a shuffled playlist. After seeing Myrkur live, I put on the “Myrkur Radio” station on Google Play and discovered a bunch of other bands that will probably end up in one of these posts.

Wolves in the Throne Room

Khaleesi can keep her dragons. When I am queen, there will be wolves in the throne room.

Okay that’s probably a really old joke, but here’s the thing. WitTR really do have a majesty that is missing in other black metal projects. “Cascadian Black Metal” is only meant to reference the geography of origin. But in the same way that there is a grandeur and darkness to Icelandic music, there is a different grandeur and darkness to Cascadian BM (which, let’s face it, is mostly just WitTR). Listening to them evokes timber-built long halls half-buried in glacier-carved caves. Fire burning on a rock hearth warms fur-wrapped warriors while wolves loll at their feet.

At the same time, it’s not too hard to imagine the band living on a permaculture farm outside of Olympia. After all, the pre-Christian culture black metal types revere was made of farmers. Their burnt sage could have been a continuation Myrkur’s spellcasting, confirming that the black music cast white spells. It burnt my throat and induced an urge to escape the building, as if I was the evil spirit to be banished.

Since my leg was hurting, I wasn’t willing to fight for my spot up front. I listened from the back, and this was my view. It’s too dark to see in this picture, but a man right in front of me had a picture of Beteljuice on his back. I kept my eyes closed for most of the show.

Enslaved

I couldn’t really imagine anyone following Wolves in the Throne Room. Enslaved’s recording history is, um, spotty. They aren’t afraid to try a new direction, which means some albums work and some don’t. But I’ve really enjoyed the proggy E and a few years ago I listened the hell out of RIITIIR. For all the sounds they’ve tried out, I never think of them as an Amon Amarth-type party band. But even from my seat in the bar with fuzzy sound, no sightline and a sore leg, the show was really fun. It was like Enslaved were the hosts who put on a spooky entertainment for their guests, and then came out to join their friends. They played the songs best suited to live performance from albums recent and old, and frequently stopped to chat with the audience. They were relaxed and personable and I will totally go see them again no matter who else is on the bill.