Fórn, Vile Creature, Dawn Ray’d and Sea played ONCE Ballroom – 1/28

Somerville’s ONCE hosted a monstrous metal bill bookended by Boston locals Fórn and Sea alongside Ontario’s Vile Creature and Dawn Ray’d all the way from the U.K. 

I’ll admit to this one flying under my radar. I had much quieter plans for last Monday night, but upon reading up on the recaps of the previous weekend’s Black Flags Over Brooklyn and realizing that both Dawn Ray’d and Vile Creature were swinging through town afterwards, I was off to spend the evening in Somerville.

Organized by journalist Kim Kelly (among the writers whose metal recommendations I often find most rewarding), Black Flags was the inaugural edition of an explicitly anti-fascist/anti-racist extreme metal fest – a weekend I’d hoped to make it to NYC for. And while circumstances didn’t align for that to happen, last Monday’s gig at ONCE effectively served as the event’s miniature Boston wing (with Fórn having played its official aftershow on Saturday night). Not a bad consolation.

Local four-piece Sea kicked off the evening with their sweeping, sludge-y post-metal – their first show with Fórn guitarist Joey Gonzalez on drums. Dawn Ray’d followed up, punctuating their blistering black metal with mournfully melodic violin. Canadian duo Vile Creature delivered the standout set of the night for my money, summoning a moving and harrowingly heavy dose of doom-sludge. Up last, as midnight rolled around, Fórn‘s ominously despairing doom made the late night worthwhile.

Check out photos of all four sets below.