Wolf King, Frail Body, Knoll played O’Brien’s – 2/5

A dynamic heavy bill rolled through O’Brien’s earlier this month.

I love metal shows in all of their various shapes and forms, but there’s something particularly special about seeing huge, heavy music performed in extremely close quarters. For this reason, I am always thrilled when O’Brien’s books metal shows, and a recent Saturday night boasted a great one.

Memphis deathgrind crew Knoll got things started, conjuring an unrelenting torrent of noise that comprised my favorite set of the evening. You always know something fun’s in store when the vocalist has a whole table of noise-making gizmos and contact mics to themselves.

Screamo/post-hardcore trio and Deathwish signees Frail Body were next, engineering a combustible controlled chaos that favorably brought personal favs/labelmates Birds In Row to mind.

California’s Wolf King followed with the night’s most comparatively melodic, straight-up heavy metal set, complete with a cloud of fog and a circle pit that finally took off in the show’s final minutes.

Scroll below for a gallery of all three bands.