Elder

Elder rules supreme. They pillaged for more than two straight hours, song after song, and in clogs no less.  It's true. The bass player was wearing clogs...and he could kick your teeth in with them every time he laid skin to the heavy strings.  He was front and center, before the drummer, who sat on a riser, holding court before us all. Their timing was tighter than a swiss clock. Neither of them missed a change (there are a lot of them), and laid down an indestructible foundation to rebuild all that the wrecking ball of icy guitars destroyed. I say icy because the endless licks, riffs, and solos coming from either side of the bass, trading off leads with each other throughout the performance, were hard and cold and sharp edged. But when they applied heat from their insurmountable build-ups, to come crashing down on our heads with wave after wave of inspiring chord progressions, that ice melted into a torrent of incredible atmospheric metal such as I've never heard. There is some truly remarkable musicianship to be discovered in Elder; from the precise count of their extended measures to the melodic paths chosen to best express themselves.  It is music I never knew I identified with so deepy until they absolutely murdered me with it.