One of my favorite things about going to shows is discovering new bands. I have never gone to a metal show fully blind (though this one was close!), but there have been plenty of shows I have attended where I was only really familiar with 1 or 2 out of 4 or 5 bands. I love looking at local venue’s calendars to see what is coming, and I will do my research on bands listed to see what might be of interest. This past Saturday featured the band Ulthar on a mini Pacific Northwest tour. They sounded interesting but also had some of the most striking artwork I had ever seen. I may not judge a book by its cover, but this one definitely did its job of luring me in!

This show featured a local hardcore band as the opener and a band from Portland called Nightfell that supported Ulthar for 2 of the 3 PNW shows. This review focuses on Nightfell and Ulthar.

I had never heard of Nightfell and was going in completely blind. To make things even more interesting, I snapped a pic of their setlist before they started and tried looking up a few songs, only to be surprised that I couldn’t find anything! I talked with their bassist at the end of the night, and it turns out that the band just finished recording their new album, and every song they performed was a brand new song. I have to admit, it was pretty cool getting a sneak peek into their new album. And wow, the band was impressive. Their sound was massive, a pummeling death doom attack with blackened and gothic notes. I loved the dynamic and tempo shifts throughout, creating plenty of mood and atmosphere, and each of the instruments did a fabulous job contributing to the dark and aggressive mood. At times they reminded me of older Swallow the Sun, just with more black metal riffs within the doom framework. It was a terrific set, and I am quite looking forward to the upcoming album!

Nightfell played a 6-song setlist featuring all brand new songs from their upcoming album. The setlist was:

1. To Live and Crawl Again
2. Flock Heard
3. Upon a Black Horse
4. Urge To Inflame
5. The Only One
6. Carrion Eterne

Ulthar was the reason I went to this show, but I wasn’t super familiar with them either. To prepare I listened to their simultaneously released double album from 2023. Technically 2 separate albums released on the same day in February 2023, one is 40 minutes of “normal” length songs, whereas the other is 40 minutes composed of two ~20 minutes songs. I was impressed with the technical complexity of their black and death metal compositions, but as I mentioned earlier, I was also quite impressed with their artwork. Their art is done by renowned British fantasy artist Ian Miller, and his work here does a great job capturing the avant-garde nature of the extreme music contained within. The guitarist even told me that quite a few people discovered the band purely because they were struck by the artwork.

So enough about the packaging, how was the show? First off, it is crazy to think that Ulthar is just a trio. Their live sound was so big, you would have thought they were a four or five piece. It never seemed like either the bassist’s or guitarist’s fingers stopped moving, and watching their fret gymnastics in tandem with their effortless ability to growl and shriek was so cool to see. And yes, they utilize a dueling vocal approach that works super well and sounded great. And the drummer was just phenomenal, blasting and blazing and making all kinds of magic behind his kit. The music was fast and furious, the avant garde nature shining through with various twists and turns, keeping you off kilter as each song progressed. They played pretty much nonstop for around 38 minutes, and when silence and a full stop finally occurred, they played for another 6 or so minutes before being done. It was a phenomenal show, and I am so glad I chose to go!

Also of note, the guitarist told me that this mini-tour was also a way to get the 3 band members together since they all live in different places. They are working on a new album that will hopefully come out later this year!

The band played a 9-song setlist spanning all of their albums except for “Helionomicon.” I didn’t have a printed setlist so had to go back through my videos to figure it out. I could not figure out the 7th song but have pinged the band to try and resolve that (it will be listed as “[unknown]” in the list below). The setlist was:

1. Fractional Fortresses
2. Cosmovore
3. Cephalophore
4. Undying Spear
5. Furnace Hibernation
6. Infinite Cold Distance
7. [unknown]
8. Larynx Plateau
9. Asymmetric Warfare

Sometimes going in mostly blind pays off, and this night it absolutely did! I thoroughly enjoyed both bands, and with albums coming out later this year from both of them, I have even more to look forward to!