Just four dates into their co-headline tour, Mammoth WVH and Nita Strauss hit Indy’s Egyptian Room for a night of guitar greatness.
Strauss and her band took over first, with a set split evenly with instrumentals from her solo debut- Controlled Chaos and vocal tracks from last year’s The Call of the Void, an album that featured guests on each song.
The crowd was into all of it but, when touring vocalist Kasey Karlsen took the stage for the vocal songs, the crowd got even more amped up. Slamming the crowd with songs like “Dead Inside,” “The Wolf You Feed,” “Through the Noise” and “Victorious,” Karlsen showed she can master both the screaming unclean vocals just as well as she can the beautiful clean vocals.
Strauss and Karlsen’s onstage chemistry is undeniable and the rest of the band sounded flawless, despite a rough sound mix on the vocals. When their set was over, the band went to the merch table to sign autographs and take pictures with fans and their line was massive.
Mammoth WVH- led by Wolfgang Van Halen- took the stage next, closing out the night with a 15-song set that included “Think It Over” which Wolfgang introduced as his father- legendary Eddie Van Halen’s favorite song.
“Man, it feels like just last week that we were in the other room,” Van Halen said, referring to their show with Alter Bridge and Red- which was almost a year ago to the day.
The love and appreciation for the fans was evident and obvious when it came to both bands, with Strauss and Van Halen taking time to express their gratitude from the stage.
-Reggie Edwards
