Knoll played O’Brien’s Pub – 6/15

Tennessee deathgrinders Knoll returned to Allston to headline a bill with support from Funerary Spell, Prayer Position and Diva Karr.

I came away from a show they opened back in February so impressed that I knew I needed to make it back to O’Brien’s to catch Knoll headline a couple weeks back. Their sophomore LP Metempiric was a few days from release at the time, which naturally means you can hear and buy it now, which I advise because it rips. They played a good chunk of it during the set, sounding totally ferocious in the process. The fivesome throw a lot of things into the blender – hyperspeed grind pummeling, clouds of noise and heavy ambience, the occasional horn section – and the end result is an engrossing, singular sonic tempest. They really pour it all into the live show, too. One of the more thrilling young bands out there right now.

Opening the night were a trio of locals, starting with the death-punk howls of Funerary Spell and Prayer Position, two bands so new to the scene that neither even has a Bandcamp I can link. The Spell were masked and frantic, the Prayer lit ominously in red, bitcrunched vocals beckoning us further into the void. Noisy black metal crew Diva Karr (who I’m kind of shocked I’d never seen before) wrapped up the hometown support with a satisfyingly dissonant set.

Scroll down for a gallery of all four bands below.