Show Recap – 07/25/2025 – Moloch / Ruin Dweller / Niveous / Silva / Want of Sin @ Eagles 34

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Iron Mike

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By ÆRæder

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Venue

https://www.eagles34.org/events-entertainment.html – 2507 E. 25th Street,  Minneapolis, MN 55406

A stalwart locale that has been pro-metal for some time. Check our write-up on the Smorgasbord festival from 7/19/25 – https://mnbleedsmetal.com/quick-take-07-19-2025-smorgasbord-the-1st-helping-festival/. Also, this place has some fantastic burgers at an unbelievable price point. 

Sound

All good. Lots of communication with each band and time spent dialing things in so come go-time, each band was able to showcase what they do smoothly.

Crowd

A pretty good turnout, relatively speaking. I’d say 2-4 dozen people at any given point, with some ebbing and flowing. The pit was rolling modestly most of the night. It never felt empty, but I’m realizing I’m lowering my standards on attendance. You all who showed up and stuck around are awesome! You all who missed are probably awesome too, but this was a GREAT, UNIQUE lineup for us here in the cities, and should have pulled in more people.

Band Mix and Performance Flow

This was a kickoff to a short tour of blackened emphasized metal: The “Midwest Descent” – 7/25 at Eagles 34 (MPLS), 7/26 at Missfits Tavern (Appleton,WI), 7/27 at Livewire Lounge (Chicago). A solid lineup of bands with similar roots that brought divergent approaches and complemented one another well from start to finish. Moloch and Want of Sin stand as opposites, relative to the evening’s bill. Having them as opener and closer was pretty awesome in terms of the spectrum of sound. Niveous centering the lineup between Ruin Dweller and Silva was also solid, facilitating some high energy and flow.

Moloch

Moloch was a fairly late addition to the bill that leveled this show up quite a bit. The least blackened band, but aggression, adrenaline, and a lucid execution of heavy and complex riffing and beats that set the bar and did the job to kick things off. This group balances brutal and technical so well; deep, heavy, guttural tones, as well as rhythmic complexity and legit shredability. Most impressive, seeing a 3-piece with this intensity and precision. It felt like there had to be more musicians hiding somewhere in the back, ;).

Ruin Dweller

  • Madison, WI
  • 4 Piece (Vox/guitar, vox/guitar, bass, drums/vox)
  • d-beat crust, death metal, metal, old school death metal, crust punk, Madison

This band felt like they were from another era, throwing out tons of old school vibes, hitting a variety of genres, but keeping the vision they are going for fresh and aggressive. Looking back at the videos I took, and listening to the CD I picked up at the show, Apocalyptic Ruin, I hear an homage to 80s black metal. They pulled off a cover of “Children of the Grave”, blackening the hell out of it, and really getting the pit to light up. Sound, vibe, stage presence; this band to me seemed the most cohesive and polished (which says a lot in this lineup!). Their tunes are worth checking out and will give you some historical stylistic puzzle pieces to contemplate.

Niveous

When I think of black metal, this is it. Niveous sounds like their album cover, which is fucking awesome. Only cassettes available for purchase, a player of which I have not. Bandcamp has digital & cassette. They also sounded like the album performance, which is also fucking awesome. Brutal, grating, unrelenting riffs & beats, and hissing vocals that are absolutely venomous. Seeing them live or listening to the album, it is like driving in the dark out onto a frozen lake in the dead of winter, and hearing that flexing ice creak, groan, and sing (IYKYK). 

Silva

Melodic blackened death just ladened with hooky, distinctive, and slightly off the wall riffs. They also balance this out with some severe headbanger beats, searing shreds, and back and forth screams and roars that make each tune an adventure. The whole Silva/Begravement Haagensen/Blumenfeld thing happening the last couple years is looking to be significant for the scene. From what I saw and who I talked with, they pulled in the crowd tonight. Across the board they are drawing in younger folks into true metal. Keep an eye on them and give their bands some love.

Want of Sin

  • – https://wantofsin.bandcamp.com/music 
    • Milwaukee, WI
    • 5 Piece (Vox, keys, guitar, guitar, bass, drums)
    • atmospheric black metal, black metal, blackgaze, dsbm, death metal, depressive black metal, experimental black metal, metal, post black metal, post-metal, Milwaukee

Pre-gaming for the show, I spun their album, Hydrophobic, released on 02/07/2025. This thing is absolutely face-melting. I bought the CD and it is something you MUST listen to. Top notch female screams and cleans, and a surprisingly dynamic album for what you might assume based on their bandcamp self-tags. In the live set I saw, they had a slightly different emphasis in sound and stage presence. The “gaze” side of their style stood out in a powerful way. Once they got going and the fog cranked up, the room started feeling thick, heavy, and haunted. Hypnotic, ethereal guitar riffs droned and vocals danced behind driving bass, keys and drums. Check out that album and look for them to return!

Highlights

Seeing five bands that don’t do a ton of shows bring their best to kick off this mini tour was awesome! And the mix of MN and WI artists, and the order of the lineup contributed to making this show memorable. All these bands have some fairly recent releases that are pretty sweet, too. I picked up a couple CDs and have had some fun spinning them as I’ve put together this write-up. 

Shade

This show was good, but felt long. Setup time between bands and soundchecks seemed to drag a bit. Moloch came on around 8:00, and Want of Sin didn’t wrap up until after 12:30. Not the worst, but by the time Want of Sin got to the stage around midnight there was a noticeable drop in energy and attendance. More people need to show up at these small shows. More people = more energy, during the performances and in between. 

Summary

The mini-tours that happen from bands along the I-94 stretch have produced some of the best shows I have seen in the cities. Pulling in Moloch was FUCKING KILLER, and added so much that complemented the blackend theme for the rest of the bands. Wisconsin has some serious shit happening in their scene, and some state/band crossover is always fun to see. Bring this to Minneapolis/St.Paul again next year!

Posted by

Iron Mike

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