KEELHAUL DECIMATE BROOKLYN

Last night I had the privilege of attending the latest in the monthly series of Pitchfork’s Show No Mercy metal shows in Brooklyn, featuring Stats, Defeatist, Unearthly Trance, and Minsk supporting Keelhaul. I arrived a fan of Minsk — who certainly did not disappoint with their epic blend of doom, prog, sludge and punk — but I left a newly converted fan of Keelhaul, whose razor-tight set of angular post-metal riffs justly lived up to show promoter Brandon Stosuy’s description as “muscular.” Keelhaul absolutely fucking killed it, their furious Coalesce-on-steroids onslaught leaving me wondering how this band had slipped beneath my radar for so long.

Literally one note was all it took to show that Keelhaul were the night’s true headliners, displaying a sense of professionalism, poise and showmanship the other bands lacked in varying degrees. Not that there were any duds on the bill — all the bands were good, notwithstanding Stats whose set I missed — but the minute Keelhaul started playing it was immediately evident why these guys have stuck around for so long and why there’s so much anticipation for their new album Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return to Obscurity, out August 18th on Hydra Head.

Check out the new album’s opening track “Pass the Lampshade” below, courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan. Stay tuned for an interview conducted by our own Satan Rosenbloom which we’ll publish in the coming weeks.

Keelhaul – “Pass the Lampshade”

-VN