The final day of any festival is always a strange mix of emotions. There's elation from all the fantastic performances you've had the opportunity to see, profound sadness that the experience is almost over and soon enough, you'll have to return to the real world, plus a healthy dose of exhaustion from spreading yourself so thin across those many days. In that weird headspace, the final day of Prepare the Ground began, and although some attendees seemed a little worse for wear, Khanate obliterated any mental cobwebs.
The stage at Lee's Palace was almost pitch black, save for a few reading lights attached to gear or a podium. But even in the darkness, Stephen O'Malley's colossal guitar rig was visible. It takes up nearly a quarter of the stage and contains more amps than most full bands would use — an omen of the impending sonic doom about to descend.
From the first notes of "Pieces of Quiet," it's evident that this isn't just loud; it's a physical experience, each chord reverberating through the room and the bodies of those in attendance. The entire audience is captivated by the sonic mayhem taking place, with not one side conversation going on (it's not like they could be heard anyway).
Between-song banter and breaks were minimal, save for vocalist Alan Dubin briefly joking with the crowd about how his vocals are processed — a lighthearted response that served as a stark contrast to the skulking creature full of anguished screams he became once the music began again.
For the next 40 minutes, the band wreaked auditory destruction upon Lee's Palace, ending with the harrowing title track from 2023's To Be Cruel. Despite the extreme nature of the music, the crowd was left wanting more, whether or not the structural integrity of Lee's Palace could've handled another song.
Pittsburgh, PA's Genital Shame was next at the Dance Cave, which thankfully survived the sonic pummelling it would have taken from Lee's Palace below. Black metal often can be a force for evil; the genre's problematic history is well-documented, but in recent years, a new wave of musicians have been changing the narrative, with Genital Shame being one of the best examples.
Erin Dawson, the mastermind behind this project, is a genuinely compelling performer. She effortlessly controlled the stage while ripping through full-band arrangements of her catalogue, and the power they brought to her solo project's songs was quite spectacular.
Given the amount of time Dawson spent gushing over her backing band, it would be irresponsible also not to shout them out: they are Stander from Chicago, IL, and they killed it here. This set was the perfect palate cleanser after the darkness of Khanate; it was a rage-fuelled explosion interspersed with moments of true beauty and the ideal example of what modern black metal should aspire to.
YOB playing their 2011 classic Atma in full feels like a fitting conclusion to the festival, and Trinity St. Paul's is the perfect venue to house this service of worship to the almighty riff. The band sounded massive in this space as they stormed into record opener and festival namesake, "Prepare the Ground." The crowd reaction was immense, and a church full of people headbanging along in unison is truly a sight to behold.
As the band worked their way through the record, it started to dawn how surreal this experience was. The opportunity to see a band like YOB in a venue like this with a room full of like-minded individuals is truly a privilege, and something no one in attendance will soon forget. It also began to set in that the festival was coming to an end as the band began to play finger-picked the guitar melody of the record closer to "Adrift in the Ocean."
However, there was no time to be sad yet, as the heavier portion of the song kicked in, and the audience was swept up in the mystically heavy riffage of YOB one final time. Following the performance, guitarist and vocalist Mike Scheidt sincerely thanked the festival and fans for making this magical event possible. They might not have been the final performance of the event — that honour went to Young Widows — but this YOB set felt like the natural culmination of the entire weekend, and was truly one for the ages.
With Prepare the Ground already confirmed for similar dates next year, KW and the rest of the team won't have an easy task topping this year's event. Whatever shape it takes, though, it will undoubtedly be another can't-miss weekend for fans of heavy music.