Cult of Luna will kickoff their brief fall tour tour tonight, co-headlining with Kylesa. Joining for the 9-date cross country jaunt will be Minsk, Subrosa and InAeona. This is the first tour of the US since Cult of Luna released Vertikal (Indie Recordings) in 2013 and promises to be an “event” worthy concert experience. Kylesa will use these dates as the warm up to the release of their new album Exhausting Fire, due out from Season of Mist on October 2nd.
Cult of Luna – Kylesa tour dates:
Sept 01: Gramercy Theater – New York, NY*
Sept 02: Cafe Campus – Montreal CAN*
Sept 03: Mod Club Theater- Toronto, CAN*
Sept 04: Reggies- Chicago, IL*
Sept 05: Rickshaw Theater- Vancouver, CAN**
Sept 06: Neumo’s – Seattle, WA**
Sept 07: Star Theater – Portland, OR**
Sept 08: Slims – San Francisco, CA**
Sept 09: The Observatory, Santa Ana, CA**
*with InAeona
**with Minsk
**with Subrosa
Earlier this year the highly regarded Cult Of Luna released Vertikal. A concept album based on the proto-sci-fi movie Metropolis by Fritz Lang, it was met with widespread acclaim. Certainly for long time fans of the band Vertikal could very well land high on respective year end lists. Personally, the album never quite clicked until the impending release of Vertikal II forced me to revisit the full length. Vertikal II being the EP that completes the Vertikal picture. Three tracks plus a remix by JK Broadrick. Perhaps digesting CoL’s Vertikal vision in a smaller portion helps to appreciate the grandeur of the full meal to a greater degree. 
Today’s show was opened by local Sludge and Doom metal band Kaligoh. This Eindhoven-based quartet played only their third show in the current line-up, but they certainly played it well. The rhythmic screaming by bass player and vocalist Dirk Snelders mixed in very well with the dark atmosphere created by the band. They made good use of vocals on tape, which along with the minimalist but well-timed lighting, only added to the tension in the music. They were an excellent opening act for Cult of Luna, and in my opinion they are worthy of a performance at the Roadburn festival.