Atriarch @ 529

Something happened last night at the 529. Some of went there with the singular focus of seeing Atriarch, we wanted a metal show, but being familiar with their music if not fans of it we were open to the interpretation of metal show as the band is in there interpretation of creating metal. Other people went to the 529 just with the knowledge it was goth night and there friends were going or like omg ...where else are people going to get wasted to escape their families on Thanksgiving.those people were ushered back out of the room by the sheer volume...there were those whose skills a instagramming their lives are liger like in proportion and they watched their phones until the energy created eclipsed their ability to just be seen and they too headed to more sedate settings.

If you read this blog then you know I was in the first category , I am a fan , who is pretty damn familiar with their work past and present , I did not know what to expect s the band is lost a hydra in their multi headed approach to metal. What I did not expect was the hypnotic spice ritual that followed. The band took the stage in organic fashion, though only the bass player and drummer were on the actual stage and the key boarding , singer and guitarist stood on the floor eye level with the crowd. The set took shape in a organize manner and coagulated into form as the singer Lenny Smith began a vocal check of his microphone by doing Tibetan throat singing. From their Guitarist Brooks Blackhawk began anointing the creative space with sage and the rest of the band simmered to a more fevered pitch until they reached the full roar of the opener for their newest album " ritual of passing" , the song "Parasite"which was every bit as powerful live but it came from a different place live, their was more grime where in the studio, I hear the slither of Dimension Hatross era Voi Vod. Here the vocals had a more chant like quality to them . Smith emotes from a deep place in his soul no matter the delivery which changed from a militant punk chant, dark bellow almost reach a croon or the scathing harsh tones, his screams actually sounded even better live.

The set seemed like one body of work even though I knew the individual songs.there was no pause in between them some type of drum beat, feed back or keyboard was kept the sonics floating. The black metal elements were represented as evenly as the doom, the kids there for goth not were not disappointed as there was enough darkness to the set, fittingly the bass player had a sticker on his bass head that read..real men hate god.
This was not expressed in their music through the normal wrathful thrashing one associates with black metal, those parts when they came held more of an Ambiant drone of early Darkthrone. The catharsis of their music in many ways felt internalized as the singer too almost Gollum like stances as he preformed and less warrior gestures black metal normally brings to mind.

The most remarkable element was after their set ended when I thought they had just begun due to the fact I had been captured in the moment ,held their in a meditative state where time stopped and the band draws you into to be totally engulfed I. The experience dispite hipster girls strutting throught the crowd of the glow of cellphones, I was surprised when my ears rand wheni left Becuase I felt their music but wasn't abrasives overpowered by sheer volume alone and I have seen the Swans twice in the son of a year so that kind of distorts your perception. Of what a louds show is . Like the Swans , Atriarchs music was very much a spiritual experience live and engrossed me furtherinto their new album once it was over. File them under never to miss.