Elder shook the rafters at Black Circle on Cinco de Mayo, capping off an evening of heavy music that included Ruby The Hatchet and Howling Giant.

Not only was it Cinco de Mayo, it was also a full moon. It is hard to think of much better circumstances under which to see a metal show. Not just any heavy music show, either: Elder, Ruby The Hatchet, and Howling Giant.

Howling Giant took the stage first at the venerable Black Circle, a boutique venue for music in Indianapolis that gains renown with each passing day. Howling Giant is a psychedelic rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, that has been around for about ten years. Back in the beginning, they released a string of three EPs – self-titled, and Black Hole Space Wizard in two parts – that turned a lot of heads. A full-length album followed, and new music is coming up soon. Their style is laid back and tight, and they warmed the room to full cook behind blackout curtains as the sunlight waned. It was my first time seeing them live and now I can’t wait to hear more of their music.

Ruby The Hatchet is an east coast psychedelic rock band that should be high on your list of acts to catch live. I have been a fan since I first heard them, and I have a particular reverence for the album Valley of The Snake (2015), but, truly, all of their records are fantastic. The Black Circle show is the third time I have seen Ruby The Hatchet in the past nine months, and every performance has been fantastic.

The set opened with “Thruster” from their latest album, Fear Is A Cruel Master (out now on Magnetic Eye Records), and most of the songs were from the new one. That’s good news because it is such a great record. Last year, they had been playing a cover of the Uriah Heep song “Easy Livin’” at their shows. At Black Circle, they treated the crowd to a cover of “Harden My Heart” by Quarterflash, complete with the saxophone intro. Wow. I didn’t see that coming, and it was amazing. It was another incredible show from Ruby The Hatchet.

Elder is a progressive psychedelic stoner rock band. They started back in 2006, and have they have had an intriguing career. Through 2020, they had released five full-length albums plus a number of demos, spits, and EPs. In 2021, they did an extended collaboration project with Kadaver, resulting in the full-length album, Eldovar: A Story of Darkness & Light. Elder’s latest record came out last year, Innate Passage.

The songs Elder writes typically run about ten minutes or longer, so what you see on stage are extended performances where the musicians seem to be transformed. Or, alternately, they are transforming the crowd. They played a couple of songs off the new album, and also dipped into their extensive catalogue to pull up fan favorites. It was a trippy experience, what with the holiday and the moon and these three incredible bands. Don’t miss this tour.

The shows will go on for a few weeks as the bands are out until the first week of June. Have a look at the tour poster below for cities and dates where you can catch them. If you want to see more photos from the Black Circle show, there are separate photo galleries for all three bands – touch the links below.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Elder, https://beholdtheelder.com/

Ruby The Hatchet, http://www.rubythehatchet.com/

Howling Giant, https://howlinggiant.bandcamp.com/

Black Circle, https://www.blackcirclebrewing.com/

Photo Galleries.

More Elder photos, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/05/13/photo-gallery-elder-at-black-circle-may-5-2023/

More Ruby The Hatchet photos, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/05/13/photo-gallery-ruby-the-hatchet-at-black-circle-may-5-2023/

More Howling Giant photos, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/05/13/photo-gallery-howling-giant-at-black-circle-may-5-2023/

© Wayne Edwards