Photo Gallery: Bassists, Part 7

May 14, 2023April 29, 2023 Wayne EdwardsAndrew J. Brady Music Center, Badflower, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Brkn Love, Corrosive Vengeance, Death Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Live Music, Lust Witch, Max and Iggor Cavalera, Mercyful Fate, Municipal Waste, Piere's Entertainment Center, Pure Filth Festival, Saving Abel, The King Of Clubs, The Vogue Theatre

**Saving Abel at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

**Municipal Waste at Pure Filth Festival**

**Mercyful Fate at the Andrew J. Brady Music Center**

**Corrosive Vengeance at The King Of Clubs**

**Badflower at Blue Ridge Rock Festival**

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Lust Witch, Hands Of Filth (2023)

April 27, 2023April 27, 2023 Wayne EdwardsDeath Metal, Doom Metal, Hands Of Filth, Heavy Metal, Indianapolis, Lust Witch

Indianapolis metal band Lust Witch move toward the land of death on their new EP, Hands Of Filth.

I first encountered Lust Witch as a doom trio when I saw them perform at Piere’s Entertainment Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana last year. I immediately joined their fanbase. In 2022, they released an EP titled We All Die Alone, a fully imagined doom set. Since then, they have added a vocalist to the ranks and moved in a direction that more resembles death metal while maintaining some connections to their dooming past. The band is Chad Z. (vocals), Taylor Hoang (bass), Ian Gernhardt (guitar), and Mason Plummer (drums).

“Impetuous Remorse” is a short sharp shot to the head. Groaning, clumping rhythm is rewarded by festering growls in the vocals. “Visceral Discharge” follows with greater acceleration and an immediate entreaty to violence. The music is a steady plunder, encouraged by the grisly singing. There are moments of groove as well that give you a taste for the deed. “Left Dismembered (in a festering ditch)” lays down a heavy bass line that the other instruments pounce on. It is like a dark encounter on a lonely rural road that takes a turn for the grisly.

The EP continues: “Absolute Bedlam.” Here we have what sounds like a chainsaw to open the chaos and frenzy. After that, you’re in for a heavy grind. The final stroke is “The Green Wire,” which ploughs a killer clomp that pounds you relentlessly to the point of pulverization. This set is something new for Lust Witch, and I like what I hear. Recommended.

Hands Of Filth is out now and can be snapped up at Bandcamp. You can get the earlier EP there as well. Link below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lustwitchdeath.bandcamp.com/album/hands-of-filth

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/people/Lust-Witch/100083054572658/

Lust Witch, We All Die Alone (2022)

September 15, 2022April 19, 2023 Wayne EdwardsDoom Metal, Heavy Metal, Indianapolis, Lust Witch, Sludge Metal, We All Die Alone

Indianapolis doom band Lust Witch unleash a sludgy new EP, We All Die Alone.

The band is Taylor Hoang (bass, vocals), Ian Gernhardt (guitar, vocals), and Mason Plummer (drums). The music they play is a doom/sludge integration that leans into the heavy riff and presses it to the blackout stage. We All Die Alone is their first album.

There are four songs on the EP, each labeled with a word from the title. “We,” then, is first. It offers a disorienting stance in the opening couple of minutes, with disconcerting staccato chants hurled that are surrounded by a sputtering generator of surges and recessions. A more ordered and persistent thrumming sets in and pushes toward the conclusion, leading into “All.” The second track is more cinematically dreary, like a Hammer horror movie with deep, rich tones. The pace accelerates and the vocals broaden in profile throughout the first half. The fatal chop returns and the listener faces enpummelment.

“Die,” the longest track on the album at nine-and-a-half minutes, continues the litany. The initial tone here strikes me as melancholy. The constant reminder of awaiting eternity bears down on you here, too, and by now it is really getting under your skin. In whatever tempo shift or transition we might find ourselves, there is that constancy waiting for us at the end, altogether unavoidable. And, ultimately, we face it “Alone,” as the final track drives home. Truly, these songs form a suite that is easily, arguably, a single piece. The final movement is smoothest around the edges and also the saddest because of the singular inevitability it describes.

This music was recorded live in the studio, and the band must have been channeling the ethereal muse because they have created a memorable, fundamental slab of doom. Give it a listen and then go see them live. Recommended.

We All Die Alone is out now. Pick it up at Bandcamp – link below.

Band photos by Wayne Edwards

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lustwitchdoom.bandcamp.com/album/we-all-die-alone

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Lust-Witch-110221191691214

Crowbar and Spirit Adrift at Piere’s, Ft. Wayne, July 31, 2022

August 6, 2022August 6, 2022 Wayne EdwardsBlood Of Heroes, Crowbar, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Live Metal, Lust Witch, Piere's Entertainment Center, Sludge Metal, Spirit Adrift, Wolftooth

It was a big night of monstrous riffs at Piere’s when Crowbar and Spirit Adrift stormed the stage, along with openers Wolftooth, Blood Of Heroes, and Lust Witch.

You know The Riff Beast Tour is well named if you have ever heard Crowbar. As the headliner and anchor of the evening, they provided the biggest, most massive guitar pronouncements. There were many incredible preludes as well when the opening acts were on the stage.

First up was Indianapolis doom band Lust Witch. This trio is working on a new EP called We All Die Alone, and you’ll be able to grab before too long. I love doom metal so this was the perfect way to start the evening as far as I was concerned. The band was already playing when I got inside the venue and I am sorry I missed part of their set because I really liked what I heard.

Danville, Illinois metal band Blood of Heroes came next. Having recently signed with Dark Star Records, they have several up-coming dates to promote their presence and get ready for more roadwork and newly recorded music. They play in a heavy metal groove lane, and put out an energetic live performance. I am looking forward to the follow-up to their debut album Symbolic Voices (AMG).

Wolftooth is from Richmond, Indiana. Their most recent album is Blood & Iron (Napalm Records), and they played several songs from that set. Their record label describes their sound as “offering a colossal slab of genuine, proto-metal influenced heaviness with a deep dose of doom essence and addictive stoner riffage to boot.” I can’t argue with that. Spirit Adrift’s lead singer described them as “corn-fed Iron Maiden,” and certainly their sound can be experienced in the Iron Maiden vein. Whenever you see them on a bill, make sure you get to that show.

I have written about Spirit Adrift regularly since I saw them for the first time at Aftershock in 2019. They are a straight-up heavy metal band with killer hooks and amazing guitar work. Lead singer and guitarist Nate Garrett has an ideal voice for their brand of music, and every time I have seen them has been an occasion. I would go to festival on the strength of them performing there alone. Spirit Adrift has a new EP coming out soon with a couple of originals and a half dozen covers – expect to hear a lot more about that album in this column when it drops.

Crowbar is an iconic sludge metal band. Fronted by the legendary Kirk Windstein, Crowbar has been putting out music for more than thirty years. Zero and Below is their newest album, and it forms the basis for the current Riff Beast Tour. When I was reviewing that record, I wrote, in part, “Windstein’s vocals blast power and energy that combine with the titanic riffs and percussion to forge an instantly recognizable and unforgettable sound.” Somehow, in all my years I had never seen Crowbar live. I don’t know how that is possible, but the situation was remedied on the last day of July in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Crowbar is out for the next few weeks with Spirit Adrift. Both bands continue after that in separate directions for dozens of dates throughout 2022. Go out and see them when they enter your orbit. It’ll be a show you talk about for months to come.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Band Links.

Crowbar, https://crowbar.bandcamp.com/

Spirit Adrift, https://spiritadrift.bandcamp.com/

Wolftooth, https://wolftooth.bandcamp.com/

Blood Of Heroes, https://www.bloodofheroes.net/

Lust Witch, https://www.facebook.com/Lust-Witch-110221191691214/

Piere’s Entertainment Center, https://pieresentertainment.com/

Photo Galleries.

Spirit Adrift, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/08/06/photo-gallery-spirit-adrift-at-pieres-ft-wayne-july-31st-2022/

Wolftooth, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/08/05/photo-gallery-wolftooth-at-pieres-ft-wayne-july-31st-2022/

Blood Of Heroes, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/08/04/photo-gallery-blood-of-heroes-at-pieres-ft-wayne-july-31st-2022/

Lust Witch, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/08/03/photo-gallery-lust-witch-at-pieres-ft-wayne-july-31st-2022/

Photo Gallery: Lust Witch at Piere’s, Ft. Wayne, July 31, 2022

August 3, 2022August 6, 2022 Wayne EdwardsDoom Metal, Heavy Metal, Indianapolis, Live Metal, Live Music, Lust Witch

Indianapolis doom band Lust Witch was one of the opening acts for the Crowbar stop on the Riff Beast Tour at Piere’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I got to the show just as they were finishing their set so I was only able to get a couple of snaps. Photo galleries of the other bands and a show recap coming in the next couple days.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.