It has been a long time since I have been this excited about a band; imagine all of your favorite parts of 90’s shoegaze, noise rock, sludge rock, Chicago/Louisville post rock, and glimmers of doom metal—that is Boston’s Elizabeth Colour Wheel. 
Elizabeth Colour Wheel’s latest three-song release, Queen Tired (which you can find on their Bandcamp), is a descent into madness.
“Mika Says” begins with meandering guitars that crumble under waves of churning distortion while lead singer, Lane’s Banshee-like howls soar over the storm. The song takes a sharp turn halfway through, picking up tempo and coming to a literal screeching halt; the vocals are unearthly and are delivered with such force and intensity you can feel it in your ribs.
“Unknown Tomb” is a slower jam that sounds like the progression of a séance. Taking a seat at the table in a circle, everyone holds hands, and the conduit delivers the chant. Candles get blown out, the table shakes and you’ve made contact—then it speaks. It is a haunting yet crushing song, as melodic as it is monstrous, which seems to be Elizabeth Colour Wheels m.o. This style is present in previous releases, which also demand a listen.
The 17 minute long beast “Pomsky” dives right into upbeat, grungy, 90’s shoegaze and mutates into a 15-minute noise and sound experiment track.
The amount of ground covered in just these three songs is a feat.
I was fortunate enough to catch the Elizabeth Colour Wheel live last month at a basement show where they played one of the most intense sets I’ve seen in a long time. They were super tight and tore through colossal soundscapes, constantly shifting tempos from lumbering funeral marches to blast beats.
All the while, Lane surged with emotion and a supernatural energy that you could see emitting from her like an aura that was almost tangible. She writhed on the ground conjuring guttural growls and shrieks, and within a blink she was bellowing out pristine operatic vocals. There were times when I would look at people in the crowd, and people stopped bopping around and were completely hypnotized by Lane’s performance.
Elizabeth Colour Wheel have a few releases out on their Bandcamp and all of them are brilliant.
I can’t stop listening to them. This is a band to keep an eye on, because I have a feeling they are going to get big. There really is something for everyone here; this band is a mutt, and mutts are the fucking best.
6 out of 6 Doves: Prince loved this record so much, that he missed his name being called for his 11thGrammy that night because he was playing it over and over again in his head. The doves knew to stay out of his way when he got back home. Scariest game of hide and seek at the Prince Mansion ever.