Victoria

Shibboleth – S/T

In Sam Dunn’s debut documentary, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, the anthropologist describes his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia as the land of the “newly wed and nearly dead”, an anecdote that resonates with the city’s primitive black metal practitioners Shibboleth.

Wolves in the Throne Room / Shibboleth / Northern @ Sons of Norway Hall, Victoria BC, Jan. 7, 2011

“The stage is cast in smoke and shadow. Spotlights scale black tapestries depicting nature’ s creatures: wolf, owl, crane. At centre stage is an altar holding candles and a human skull, hemmed in by trimmings from an aromatic pine. Behind it is the drummer, bathed in a warm yellow light. The silhouettes of two guitarists flank the stage, eerie streams of blue light emanating from their instruments.”

Cara Cross reviews the recent Victoria performance of Wolves in the Throne Room.