FOTOBOM: MINISTRY, CHELSEA WOLFE @ ROYALE

The tattered ghost of Wax Trax! was seen shuffling about town a handful of days ago, as both Ministry and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult landed in Boston on the same night for separate shows. Owners of bondage gear who decided to head over to the Theatre District were well rewarded for their efforts, as Uncle Al has not let up on his attack of the corrupt industrial/military cabal. Older pounding slashers like “N.W.O.” and “Just One Fix” formed the template for newer ones off AmeriKKKant such as “Wargasm.” which also borrowed a page or two from the Killing Joke playbook, and the galloping buzzsaw of “TV 5 /4Chan” which featured Fear Factory’s Burton Bell on guest vocals. Jourgensen might look like a wizened version of Jamiroquai after countless hours under the tattoo and piercing needles but the times we live still provide plenty of fodder for the venting of his spleen.

Chelsea Wolfe always cuts a striking figure whenever she’s on stage and her dramatic stage presence, fog and slashing backlit strobe lights obscuring the band until they gradually came into view, underline that with a heavy black Sharpie. The approach to her music is somewhat similar, a pounding barrage that slowly reveals savage beauty as it sinks in. Starting out with “Carrion Flowers,” the lead track from 2015’s breakthrough LP Abyss, bass player Ben Chisholm’s lines anchored the sound and let Wolfe’s ethereal vocals float over the top. There’s a lot to like from last year’s Hiss, and the menacing “Vex” and closer “Scrape” was a perfect mix of heavenly vocals a la Kate Bush, chained to a bruisingly powerful storm that let up only briefly before the clouds rolled back in. Openers The God Bombs looked and sounded exactly like you’d expect from a band who chose that name, aside from the guitar choice of a blue Telecaster. That threw off the scent a bit.

Photos of all bands here: