Wolves Of War LIVE at Hairy Mary's(R.I.P.) January 6th 2017
Instru-Metal due to time constraints(see LOTS of details below).

Wolves Of War "LIVE" line-up:

~Guitar: Krigulv/Ashlar(a la Vitam Eternam, Obsidian Meridian, Mantapus, C3L and more).

~Bass: Brian Dingman(a la Dispensing Of False Halos and more).

~Drums: H-Murder(a la Capitalist Casualties, Catheter and more).

The line-up was short lived due to H-Murder needing to relocate back to Denver. Brian had joined first and had been rehearsing with
Krigulv for a few months before H-Murder was wholeheartedly welcomed into the fold. At the time of his induction it was unknown if
H-Murder would be able to remain in Des Moines, but even in the face of an uncertain future they rehearsed diligently hoping to retain this
very strong, talented and dedicated assemblage of artists who quickly coalesced into an uniquely aesthetic musical entity for as long as
possible.

As each member pushed themselves individually, the group evolved rapidly as it was transformed by the influx of influence each contributed to the "whole". The songs of this initial "recruitment demo" metamorphosed into something entirely new as each artist projected
their own distinctive articulation of personal expression directly and unfiltered into the amalgamation being epitomized by simultaneously
complementing and contrasting the envisaged verity of this singular integer that was quickening, ripening, and progressing while in a state of perpetual flux drifting between the corporeal and the ethereal in both its initial primordial conception and through its momentum towards
the zenith of its crescendo which seamlessly culminates, transitions, and ascends into the penultimate apex to abruptly decrescendo towards the illusion of a definitive quiescent abeyance feigning imminent cessation which in actuality was a return to the incipience to conflate the alpha with the omega to beget an aural art that in essence is the equivalent of a sonically galvanized Ouroboros comprised of sounds as numbers, numbers as colors, colors as shapes, and shapes as sounds. As the emblematic serpent swallows its tail, early Wolves Of War was cyclical rather than linear. Actually, it still is, just in more subtle ways.

So with necessity being the source of invention, Krigulv as a sole guitarist playing parts he originally wrote to be played by two guitars was forced to fuse the counterparts often concurrently playing sequences of both. Brian was encouraged to disassociate and
detach himself and his expression from the bass lines previously arranged by Krigulv and to contemporaneously remove himself from the constraints of the previous arrangements, to convey and expound his own "voice", to fill the voids left by the absence of the second guitar
that could not be "covered" by Krigulv, and to excogitate the imperative "bridge" between the guitar melodies and dissonance to H-Murder's
blistering salient percussion extraordinaire. Brian did indeed accomplish all this even in the heat of rushed live performance(pushed forward date-wise due to H-Murder's departure) and he still managed to emanate an amazingly extreme and charismatic stage presence in the process. H-Murder was also encouraged to deviate from the percussion previously arranged by Krigulv on the initial demo yet he was also extremely adept at altering previously laid out percussion passages to accentuate and exude his exemplary style while often maintaining a link to some of the percussion from the demo. His breakneck rapid-fire technique was the cause of a "happy accident" in that the fast parts became at least time-and-a-half and often even double time which added even more intensity to parts that were already pushed towards chaos. His mastery of "controlled chaos" added a wholly new and innovative element to the performance as he masterly slipped between "loose" and "tight" grinds/blasts at blinding beats-per-minutes speeds. His deftness at transitions between single kick-drum blasts and literally
helicopter-like double bass parts dropped many a jaw. In resplendent contrast, his peppery beats and cymbal work on bridges and breakdowns completed a highly diversified style that combined with Krigulv's guitar work and Brian's bass work made for a memorable live performance.

However, due to time-constraints it was a short show and even though lyrics had been written and rehearsed by Krigulv, and even though he
had simultaneously played extremely intricate fast lead guitar while doing lead vocals live hundreds of times before, he simply felt the
vocals were just not dialed in enough for him(and his very particular "perfectionist demons") to feel completely confident and comfortable
so it was an instru-metal performance, yet is was agreed by the majority that it was such an active, intense performance with so much going on so quickly that lack of vocals did not detract from the overall delivery of the music nor did it deprive anything significant to the
totality of the audience's experience. The slack-jaws, deer-in-headlights looks, awestruck gasps, stunned silences, and(as I was later informed after the show by friends who were spread out within the audience) hundreds of people only being able muster up the words "Holy Sh*t!" in quivering voices after each song ended tells the story of a truly great performance.

Note: These live tracks' recording quality is far from perfect and during mastering the recording was partially de-essed which unfortunately "shaved" off a certain amount of specific frequencies affecting upper-range guitar, cymbals, etc. but it is still a significant representation of Wolves Of War at a certain point in time and it meets or even exceeds all the words used to describe not just the end product but also the intensely dedicated process to even get to that point in such an extremely short amount of time considering the type of music and material that was being dealt with.

© Wolves Of War and Mastaba Music. All Rights Reserved.