I know it’s blazing hot out there, and the natural reaction may be to stay away from anything reminding us of the past couple months of dark skies and pissing rain in Seattle. Too bad there is one show tonight that should be on every metal heathen’s radar.
Irish post-black metal act Altar of Plagues are set to take over the Funhouse tonight with their aural assault of mind melting riffs and expansive ambiance. Their heavily touted debut full length “White Tomb” made just about everyone’s “best metal records of 2009” lists, and rightfully so. Through monolithic riffs mixed with strong post-rock sensibilities, Altar of Plagues unveils a barren, human-less wasteland all too familiar in black metal music. This thing that sets them apart would have to be their experimentation with obvious elements of shoegaze and ambient rock, which are seamlessly blended with heinous riffage and cataclysmic blast beats to create a bleak sometimes dreamy but undeniably ferocious black metal hybrid. “White Tombs” is a phenomenal debut, the main reason being Altar of Plagues was able to achieve the flooring sound that their close counterparts Wolves in the Throne Room didn’t quite achieve until “Two Hunters”-- with influences clearly worn on their sleeves of course. If you’re a fan of the Olympia-based black metal behemoths, Altars of Plagues should be right up your alley.
Also on the bill is Mammifer, an experimental instrumental act that was built around the piano compositions of Faith Coloccia, formerly of Everlovely Lightingheart. Mammifer has featured an exemplary rotating cast of collaborators including Aaron Turner of ISIS, Brain Cook of Russian Circles, and former These Arms Are Snakes drummer Chris Common. Not sure which members of the talented Hydrahead roster will be in the house for this performance tonight, though it should be a lesson in haunting atmospheric sounds that must be felt to be appreciated none-the-less.
Also on the bill are Velnias and Alda.
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