KVELERTAK/SKELETONWITCH: Tour Preview/Reminder/Warning for Livers

OK, so this is is effectively grabbing a pile of kindling and tossing it onto the hype inferno, but fuck it, we should probably remind/advise you that his forthcoming Kvelertak/Skeletonwitch tour is the most exciting thing that’s happening Stateside in the immediate future.
Consider this a public service announcement, or something to that effect. Shit, the dates are posted in the flyer above, but here they are below for those of you (like me, or anyone over the age of 30) who struggle with dark gray gothic typefaces set against a light gray background.

KVELERTAK/SKELETONWITCH—U.S. Tour 2011
10/19/2011 The Early – Atlanta, GA w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster
10/20/2011 Tremont Music Hall – Charlotte, NC w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster
10/21/2011 Europa – Brooklyn, NY w/Skeletonwitch
10/22/2011 Rocks Off Cruise – New York, NY w/Skeletonwitch
10/23/2011 Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster
10/24/2011 The Summit – Columbus, OH w/Zoroaster
10/25/2011 Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster
10/26/2011 The Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster, Gaza
10/27/2011 The Pyramid Schene – Grand Rapids, MI w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster
10/28/2011 Belvedere’s – Pittsburgh, PA w/Skeletonwitch, Zoroaster

You can buy tickets here.

Kicking off on Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia, this a co-headlining deal, so nobody gets too bummed out if their prodigious boner is reserved for one or another, plus, on eight of the dates the bill is filled out by Atlanta’s sons, the psychedelic tripped-out Zoroaster.

Zoroaster “Odyssey”

https://youtu.be/rZDXxkouWMg

Sure, you can get all of these details elsewhere, from a press release (from which all these facts are cribbed, obviously), the next fucking blog to the left, Facebook, permanent marker on the wall of the subway… et cetera, but the point is: why get excited?

Well, the thing is about our drab, worthless existence is that it’s enlivened tenfold when bands visit your local dive with a pitch-perfect soundtrack for pouring beers into that dried-out hole in your face. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got to let off some steam, and while November’s Decibel cover stars Skeletonwitch probably only kinda slay for the duration on record (… saying that new LP Forever Abomination‘s the strongest thing they’ve dropped), they’ve never been less than totally welcome in the a face-to-face live setting where you’re encouraged to finish your drink before it gets spilled by the awesomely named Chance Garnette swinging his studded gauntlets about trying to invoke Cronos. The Athens, Ohio crew’s high-pitched, aggro-Venom thrash workouts aren’t going to win the “Bohemian Rhapsody” Prize for Over-Ambitious Artistic Endeavour but sometimes it’s the simple things in life that get you by.

Case in point:
https://youtu.be/qGkyWiG2D4o

If you haven’t already checked out the exclusive track they cut for our Flexi-Series, (maybe you’d best subscribe), you can get involved by clicking below… Remember, though: no sidebanging.

Skeletonwitch “Tragedy Of Days” (dB010) by Decibel Magazine

Now, Kvelertak took a bit of time to make sense. On the face of it, if you did the arithmetic, adding all the key genre references—the punk, metal, rock, black metal—together, of course they should be considered no less than essential. Their eponymous debut was promising enough on initial spins, and putting blastbeats to tuned-down Stooges riffs was genius. But the Norwegian sextet’s full impact was kinda disguised by not knowing where these guys where coming from musically; it took time for the ear to deal with the stylistic jumps between rough-hewn punk jams and nihilistic rough ‘n’ tumble at the extremities of their sound. Having Hoest from Taake and Ryan McKenney from Trap Them guest on the record should have signposted that Kvelertak are a band not to be second-guessed.

It took an afternoon set in torrential rain in a field in Europe for it those jams to make sense. And then it was perfectly clear: it’s difficult to overstate how awesome they are live. Three guitarists, for starters, and then vocalist Erlend Hjelvik, shirtless, gut out (the beer gut being the male party animal’s most commendable war wound), growling and howling. This is a dispassionate and jaded time we’re living in, but it’s performances like this (below) that change all that.

https://youtu.be/H4mY3YHE8Qo

Oh, if you’re quick you can get the U.S. only deluxe CD/DVD Kvelertak here.

But shit, if this tour’s passing through your town, book the next day off work, budget mentally and physically for a hangover and get yourself to one of these dates. Life is short—too short: best fill it with stuff.