Wolves In The Throne Room Blow the W2 away!

20 february 2009, W2 ‘s Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

This day was really weird for me. Earlier I went on an excursion to the Army Museum in Delft for my Warfare of Colonial Armies course (I’m a history student). There we had a private tour to the attic, where they have 2,000 guns stored. We had a 2,5 hour talk about the history of guns, how they work etc. We all got to hold the guns, which was very weird to me because I had never hold a weapon in my hands before. And now, I suddenly held about 30 weapons in two hours. The Call of Duty references were made of course, as we had the AK-47 in our hands. This is all off topic, but I had to rush home (Utrecht), make a quick dinner, then rush to ‘s Hertogenbosch. My mind was still with the guns... I went to the gig together with a friend, and we both dreaded going into the carnaval-craziness that was going on already at Utrecht central station. Luckily, the W2 venue is not located in the city centre and we didn’t encounter many people dressed like cows or clowns. 

There was already a long line of people waiting to get in. I solely came for Wolves in the Throne Room and the other two bands would be a surprise for me. I naively expected them to play black metal or something related, which would give me quite a shock later on when I discovered what they would actually play! We came in and handed over our coats, which we would later realise was a mistake. We went to get some drinks first and at the same time the first band of the evening was already playing: Anaphylactic Shock. We only caught the last 5 minutes of their set, so I can’t really say anything about what I heard. From their last.fm page I gathered they were playing doom metal or sludge kind of music. I had in my earplugs, which totally fucked up the sound so I could not hear the singer. I did this to save my ears for later on, so I’m not able to give comments really. 

After a 30 minute break, my curiosity for the next band was quite high! The curtains opened and it was time for The Devil's Blood. “Oh God”, was literally my thought when I saw them. Covered in ‘blood’, and with a female lead singer I just knew this wasn’t going to be black metal or anything like it. I was hoping something like Made Out of Babies, but erm...no. In my opinion it was just power metal, but according to their last.fm page it’s occult rock. Well, whatever, I totally hated this. I gave it a try, listened for about 15 minutes and then I couldn’t take it anymore. There was totally no energy coming from this band, it was all static. The singer just stood there, sometimes raising her arms but other than that nothing spectacular happened. Same goes for the guitar players, I just didn’t sense any enthusiasm. And if there is one thing I hate about live performances, it’s when I just feel no emotion while listening to the music. My friend and I left to get a beer and take a look at the merchandise. We just talked and only when the band was done playing we went back in and sought out a good place in front.

Again we had to wait 30 minutes, and this time I was waiting anxiously; hoping that my evening wouldn’t be totally ruined. The curtain opened again and there they were: Wolves in the Throne Room. After a noisy intro, they unleashed their fury. And wow, it was good (and that’s an understatement) I stood there, totally blown away by their performance. The feeling that I got from their music was very intense. I got goose bumps all over and almost felt tears stinging in my eyes. This was the first time ever that a metal performance managed to give me this reaction. I often cry during classical concerts, but never during metal! But their music was very emotional to me. Some people might think I’m crazy now, but to me black metal is about the feeling. Wolves in the Throne Room managed to get across such an energy...unbelievable! The way they played made me think that they were completely into the music themselves as well; they played full of emotion. They played about an hour, and only 4 songs probably haha. The stage was very dark, only some candles were lit. This gave the atmosphere an extra boost and certainly fits their style of performing. There was also no talk to the public, only an occasional ‘thank you’. 

Looking around I saw mixed reactions from other people. Some people were completely into it, like me and my friend. However, I also got the feeling that others were finding it not to their liking (or maybe even worse). This is of course logical seeing the weird programme of this evening. Sludge, ‘occult rock’ and black metal all have a different public.

After the show was over, my neck and back hurt like hell. I just wanted to get home. This was not so easy...It took like 30 minutes just to get our coats. Next time I’m keeping it with me no doubt. We missed the last normal train home by 10 minutes, so we had to wait 50 minutes for the night train. I was home at 2:30 am. By now, I’m still having a great feeling of satisfaction if I think back about the concert. For just 9 euro’s, this concert was well worth it!