Killer Moon at Subterranean | Concert preview

Killer Moon

Though the three-minute wooden flute intro on “Lost Tribe,” the lead track on Killer Moon’s recently released eponymous album, seems directly ripped from the R. Carlos Nakai collection at your neighborhood Ten Thousand Villages, don’t shake a rain stick at it just yet. In fact, it’s a terrible idea to use anything by the local stoner trio as the soundtrack for your next community yoga class—unless, of course, you enjoy downward-dogging to the sounds of soaring, acid-soaked sludge.

The Nag Champa–burning bunch spent a couple of years in Miami before heading home in 2009 to break into Chicago’s heavy-psych circuit, joining scene staples like the Great Society Mind Destroyers and Rabble Rabble, and self-releasing a string of records in the process. Though the band’s foundation (and carefully coordinated wardrobe) was built upon the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, the new full-length packs a meaner punch on tracks like “Lords of the Nine” and “Sacred Cenote,” which offer pummeling, dramatic doses of Neurosis-style doom. Plus, given the fact that the median age of this quickly maturing band is approximately 24, there’s plenty of room for its sound to grow. Fellow local outfit Planetsexploder gets the night off to a crushing start with a more straightforward approach to riffage, chugging ahead mercilessly and noodle-free.