If you’ve got hearing frequencies to spare, catch Wolf Eyes the next time they tear into Denver. Photo from .
The sounds at the on Tuesday night were the aural equivalent of a war zone. Static explosions seeped out from every corner. Nothing was safe. Often, an important question arose: Is that the band making that noise or the sound of my ears dying? The answer: Itap alright. I wasn’t using those frequencies anyway.
kicked off the night with an at least semi-thought-out stage show. The bass player sat in a wheelchair facing away from the crowd and bore no injuries that I could see, the keyboardist wore a dust mask over his mouth and nose and the vocalist donned a dress and a wig.
I continue to contemplate whether or not the vocalist was dressed as a woman for the sake of amusement, or because his screeches into the microphone sounded like a witch-goblin’s death howl. He read from what appeared to be a spellbook or a dark bible and, mixed with the droning bass and scratches from the keyboard, the room began to sound like an evil warlock was trying to cause a cave-in. In fact, itap quite likely this is what was happening, as it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to find any of the members of Epileptinomicon at a local Dungeon & Dragons game. The incantation ended after about 20 minutes, and the band abruptly left after one “song.”
As the next band set up I became increasingly puzzled to see them at a noise show. A hollow body guitar? A saxophone player? Aenka began with a swelling of soft atmospherics that quickly rose to banging chaos. The saxophone squealed over heavy, constant drums and then faded back to softer, less cluttered sounds.
The drums ranged from sparse to jazz like to harsh hard clanging — often in the same song. The sax began to sound like a dolphin being smothered in a tsunami and then breaking through to a calm. The guitar and electronics created a hazy delay that pushed the jazz sounds out to the depths. Aenka provided a pleasant surprise for the evening and showed off a wide range of influences, and the skill to pull such diverse and contrasting styles off.
were Wolf Eyes. They did everything you’d expect from such a prolific noise act. With absolutely no stage banter the trio proceeded to rip through their set like a heat-seeking missile. The floor rumbled and shook, as if in a thunderstorm. At times the band created an indiscernible wall of noise, at others a hellish twister that threatened to split the room in two.
Wolf Eyes’ brand of noise makes the heaviest of metals seem tame. The next time one of my roommates brags about going to a DragonForce concert, I’ll be sure to retort, “Who cares? I survived Wolf Eyes.”
Marlon Frisby is an intern at The Denver Post.
