CULT OF LUNA
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2020
with EMMA RUTH RUNDLE and INTRONAUT
House of Blues Chicago
Wednesday March 4, 2020

There has been a painfully long wait for a brand new album with new material from Sweden’s Cult of Luna, with the Swedes having released their last one all the way back in 2013, with only a few EP’s, compilation albums and live albums interspersed in between to satiate the masses.
You have to ask yourself- was it worth the wait? Well what do you think?
“A Dawn to Fear” is breathtakingly awesome, with tons and tons of finesse and complex musicianship and songwriting front and center (thank God), full of sonic layers which are expertly blended and molded to present to you live and in person.
4 songs make the cut in the tour setlist: opening with the spellbinding “The Silent Man”, and then interspersed throughout the set with “Nightwalkers”, “Lights on the Hill”, and ending with “The Fall”.
Moods and atmosphere permeate throughout Cult of Luna’s set, with stark and blinding white strobes bandying about, set to moody background hues depending on the song at play.
Nothing about Cult of Luna’s set dragged on into boredom or into periodic moments of what the fuck.
Everything about this performance with Johannes Persson growling accordingly front and center, and the onslaught of brilliant guitar from Fredrik Kihlberg and also Magnus Lindberg. Cult of Luna has two drummers adding to the trailblazing mix: Thomas Hedlund and and also Magnus Lindberg.
With Andreas Johansson on bass, and Kristian Karlsson on vocals and keyboards and samples, what you have here on display is a towering onslaught of sonic wonderment and endurance, with expertly crafted songs and the physical dexterity to back that up in live performance.
Such an amazing show from Cult of Luna, a band that deserves your undivided attention.
Emma Ruth Rundle opened before Cult of Luna, on solo electric guitar and not much fanfare, with solid blue and aqua hues for background mood throughout her performance. What was memorable about her performance was kicking us photographers out of the pit after just one song, probably because of the noise of shutters going off constantly adding as a distraction of sorts.
It’s ambient solo electric guitar throughout, with moody and understated vocal front and center.
So the headscratcher of course is why Emma is on the bill- and it’s my opinion that she’s providing the relief, the yin and the yang between headliner Cult of Luna, and openers Intronuat, more or less as a way for the audience to catch their breath.
As for openers Intronaut, touring on the release of their new album “Fluid Existential Inversions”, which from the title of their release should tell you a lot of the bludgeoning and complex musicianship right there.
Only four songs are in the setlist, because of time constraints, but nevertheless the band is still interesting as all get out, with the Los Angeles trio burning and torching their songs upside down and sideways and every which way,
The moody magenta hues suck, as far as live photography, but as far as progressive metal goes, theses guys have tons of heart and soul.
The grooves are solid, with Sacha Dunable front and center on guitar and vocal, Joe Lester on bass, and touring drummer Matt Lynch holding his own to round out the trio.
Such a complex and amazing lineup for this tour, and one that was so memorable, that’s for sure.
Cheers- Bobby Talamine- Music Photographer