When Roadburn Festival began 25 years ago, it was a haven for doom and stoner metal. In the years since, the festival’s programming has expanded to explore the outer reaches of alternative music, whilst still keeping a through line to its roots. Consider Chelsea Wolfe a bridge between those two worlds, then. Across her seven albums to date, Wolfe has dabbled in everything from folk to doom and dark electronica. It’s that chameleonic quality that shines through her set at Roadburn. Playing all of her latest record across a sprawling 16-song set, Wolfe shows her mastery of atmosphere and darkness, drifting atop a sea of luscious melodies while weaving alluring siren songs that beckon listeners into the darkness lying just below the surface.
The pulsing electronica of opener “Birth of Violence” serves as a handy reminder that Wolfe has broken away from the minimalism that characterized 2019’s “Birth of Violence”, this latest record feeling like a doom take on trance by way of Radiohead. It’s a heady and bewitching mix, Wolfe’s operatic vocals counteracted with elegiac piano and bass so low it could be used to dig for oil, lending an otherworldly feel to the set as if any sudden movement might break the spell.
One of Roadburn’s greatest strengths as a festival is its capacity to craft technically spectacular live productions for each artist, affording underground acts levels of theatricality they seldom get to flex. Sure enough, Wolfe’s show is a visual extravaganza, thick plumes of stage smoke and kaleidoscopic lighting displays enhancing the set, building to a transcendent moment during “Feral Love” where Wolfe strums an acoustic guitar as swirling smoke appears to cast her as a solitary figure emerging from an eldritch void.
Although “Birth of Violence” dominates the set, there’s also room for welcome older cuts. Doom ditties “House of Metal” and “Carrion Flowers” connect back to Roadburn’s Cathedral-booking roots, while “The Culling”‘s subtle symphonic swells invoke a grandeur that Wolfe has left largely unexplored on more recent releases. Closing on the beautifully fragile “Flatlands”, the set simultaneously feels like a spectacular showcase of Wolfe’s strengths as a songwriter whilst also barely scratching the surface on her craft, testament to her genius and status as a true auteur, each new record inviting an entirely different interpretation of her artistry.
