The Atlas Moth, Royal Thunder & more played Great Scott on Valentine’s Day

Chicago sludge metal quintet The Atlas Moth rolled through Allston with a killer bill of support including Atlanta’s Royal Thunder, Neurosis-affiliate project Mirrors for Psychic Warfare and local crew Lesser Glow for a very loud February the 14th. 

The Atlas Moth just released their fourth LP, the dense and adventurous Coma Noir, and went heavy on the new material for their headlining set. Bolstered by a blindingly colorful light show – not something you see every day in a venue this small – they sounded massive.

Royal Thunder’s psych-tinged stoner rock and furious delivery added up to a real crowdpleaser (and a significant chunk of the crowd did seem to come out for them), while Boston’s Lesser Glow kicked off the night with a forcefully heavy genre-blurring set.

Mirrors for Psychic Warfare – the experimental duo of Neurosis’ Scott Kelly and his Corrections House bandmate, Buried at Sea’s Sanford Parker – were the sonic outlier for the night, but one of particular note for me. With Kelly on guitar and vocals and Parker manning keys and electronic percussion, the pair played an entrancing fusion of drone, post-rock and dark ambient that countered the more thunderous rest of the bill rather nicely.

Photos from each set (a remarkable three of which incorporated the bands’ own lighting rigs) are below.