Chelsea Wolfe is an anomaly. She may be the only artist in history to cover songs by both Biggie Smalls and Rudimentary Peni. Her music is hauntingly tragic and the vocal accompaniment is often stunningly airy, a perfect soundtrack for the death and decay of fall. Last time Chelsea Wolfe was in town she did a minimal acoustic performance but on this evening the full band was brought along to promote her new album, Pain Is Beauty.
She started the set with new song, Feral Love. The opening strings are perfect for a funeral procession as Chelsea utters, “Your eyes are black like an animal.” Ms. Wolfe would not be unfit to play on a black or doom metal bill and I don’t doubt that she has. Feral Love reminds me of Bjork after being trapped in a room, secluded with only Candlemass and Paradise Lost records. Also early in the set was We Hit A Wall, a trudging, doomy folk anthem from Pain Is Beauty that walks you across a circular apocalyptic landscape of abysmal sonic despair. Her ghostly visage and shy yet piercing eyes light up the stage as people scream adorations between songs. About halfway through the set Chelsea Wolfe brought the wrath of Demons from 2010’s Apokalypsis, a song she earlier recorded on The Grime and The Glow.
This rendition brought the energy to a new level. Another standout track was her take on Rudimentary Peni madman, Nick Blinko’s disturbingly penned Echo. The original song clocks in at 1:07 but Chelsea stretches every syllable as the band plays slow and heavy. A far cry from Peni’s version, Chelsea is more influenced by the lyrics of Blinko than the chaotic punk music of his band of misanthropes. The words to Echo are simple and tortured. “Language of agony, torment in sound. Weeping of ancestors formed into words. The echo of anguish, primeval sorrow.” Perhaps Chelsea Wolfe has found a kindred soul in Nick Blinko, whose poetry she repeats with the conviction of a nun.
Chelsea and the band sweated through the set on this hot Austin night. Her fan base is loyal and grows as Wolfe’s music has progressed in interesting directions. I was a casual Chelsea Wolfe fan before this show but I can now be counted among the aforementioned loyal fan base.