Chelsea Wolfe & Wovenhand Embrace The Dark At MHOW

It was a dark night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. All back lights. Not a night for banter between the artists and the crowd, save for two very brief thank-you’s. It was night of incantations and spirituality. Each new song possessing the crowd a little more.

Chelsea Wolfe’s powerful metal tinged rattle kept washing over the crowd. From the opening drone of the show starting with “Carrion Flowers” you felt something dangerous was at hand. Almost as if she was tapping into the bleed between realities. Each subsequent song ripping at the fabric of reality that was holding back something dark and primal. By the time she got to numbers like “Color of Blood” and “Pale on Pale,” her incantation was complete and the darkness had seeped completely through the rift. It’s tentacles completely covering the crowd.

Chelsea Wolfe

And as if to set the stage for the Wolfe’s crushing sound, was Wovenhand. If Wolfe was casting spells to bring forth the darkness, Wovenhand’s David Eugene Edwards was tapping into the audiences’ spiritual side. His brand of gothic Americana sounds like tales passed down from generation to generation. The spoken tradition of transference is not enough though. This tale needs roaring guitars and driving percussion. And the only setting fit is a dusty copper butte with nothing else in any direction. A couple of Afghans to sit on. A burning blue flame of a sky. And staring down at you with his arms crossed is Edwards. The arms uncross and in his hand is a chrome old-school microphone wrapped in a red-bandana. And then he begins to preach.