Photos and Review by Chandler Mays
Anyone who tries to spread the word about Lazer/Wulf always runs into the same problem: Explaining their sound. People throw around genre catchwords such as metal, jazz fusion, thrash, sludge, mathcore, aggressive, progressive, symphonic, melodic, evil-funk, avant-metal… the list goes on. Personally, I prefer to use the phrase “groove math metal on steroids”, although it wouldn’t be doing them justice. Regardless of their undefinable vibrations, their live show most certainly gives everyone excitations.
Lazer/Wulf consists of Bryan Aiken on guitar, Sean Peiffer on bass, and Brad Rice on drums. This trio writes classically rooted compositions that leave you breathless. Seriously, I kept forgetting to breathe during the performance. The time-signatures and tempo constantly varied, the rhythms were complex, and their melodies resembled a sonic labyrinth, yet they never alienated the crowd by always keeping it groovy. Bryan and Sean’s guitars formed an elaborate dance in your brain while Brad’s double-bass reverberated in your rib-cage. They closed with playing their new EP “There Was A Hole Here. It’s Gone Now” in it’s entirety, which feels more like a 12-minute opus than five individual songs. Their lazer-like precision and timing consistently made my jaw drop. I would turned to the stranger next to me, jaw also dropped. We would smile and shake our heads, signifying the mutual thought, “I don’t get how they’re DOING that!”, then continue to stare at the beautiful destruction in front of us.
Many times, I catch myself over-using this adjective, but the band truly deserves it when I say they’re “EPIC”. If you haven’t seen Lazer/Wulf, you haven’t actually lived yet. I can’t wait to see where this band takes us in the future.
Full Gallery after the jump…
