The Black Angels, Night Rites @ The Gov, Adelaide 14/6/2026
“It’s a beautiful noise”, quipped Neil Diamond many years ago and on a cold winter Sunday evening at The Gov, two bands, Night Rites and The Black Angels gave us exactly that – a beautiful noise.
The Black Angels hail from Austin Texas and it has been twenty years since the release of their debut, psychedelic, album, Passover. What better way to celebrate the anniversary than to hit the road and play the album live and Adelaide was to be the last date of the Australian tour.
The noise began with Adelaide band, Night Rites. A drone sound echoed around The Gov band room, mixing with the smell of incense also wafting from the stage. Night Rites are a three-piece band with Rhys Overall on vocals/bass, Adam Vanderwerf, guitar and synth and Peter Blunden on drums. They self-describe their music as fuzz/drone/noise but in the live environment, they are way more than that. Yes, at times it does sound like very early Pink Floyd or even Hawkwind, but their music is undeniably twentyu first century.
They commenced the set with All Seeing Eye blending effortlessly into Codrone. The music swirled around a growing crowd; all eyes fixed on the stage soaking in the sounds. The band have a new album out, Nine of Swords and closed the set with two tracks from the album, Yess Jess and Second Man.
It is hard to describe the music and my friend remarked it was “just one long song” but perhaps the best description comes from the internet; “Night Rites plays neo-psychedelic, psychedelic rock. Through the ritual of drone and the ceremony of modulation, Night Rites create dynamic and rhythmic textures that build and decay in an oscillating projection of dark psychedelia.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. A humble “Thank you” and the band walked off stage, having thrown down the gauntlet to the band that had to follow.
How good where they? Well, I bought the album after the gig. Yes, they were that good.
As the crowd grew, I noticed the mix of the audience. There were young people and couples in attendance, along with plenty of middle age people and couples and even a splattering of “older” people, me included. It is wonderful to see that music has no barriers with age.
The Black Angels apparently took their name from the Velvet Underground’s song The Black Angels Death Song and it is fitting. Inspired by trailblazers including Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Arthur Lee, and The Velvet Underground, the band blends respect for the genre’s origins with an uncompromising drive to explore new territory. Their music is hypnotic and heavy, politically aware, and enveloping in its intensity.
The band walked onto a darkened stage and proceeded to play the 2006 album, Passover, in full and in order. As Young Dead Men blasted out from the speakers, abstract video images played out on the screen behind them.
The First Vietnamese War and The Sniper quickly followed. Unlike some of their influences and heroes, the songs were relatively short. Misti Hamrich moved from bass to organ with regular intervals, her hair covering her face for most of the evening.
While Alex Maas commanded the front of the stage on vocals for most of the evening, guitarist Christian Bland occasionally shared vocal duties, as he did on Empire. Maas by now had donned a guitar as well and we were treated to a magnificent four-guitar assault during the song. The song eventually collapsed into a bass riff before coming to an end.
The chaos of Better off Alone followed with an electrifying, Bloodhounds on my Tail coming next. It was Call to Arms that closed out the album, spotlights illuminating the audience at the front of the stage, while the stage remained relatively dark. The song beautifully ebbed and flowed to the apocalyptic conclusion.
However, the album wasn’t quite done with yet. The band left the stage and Maas returned alone for a solo rendition of the “hidden’ track, Mistress Brown (Fighting in Iraq) on the CD version of the album,). The Gov was silent throughout the whole performance.
Christian Bland then had his turn in the spotlight, with Ronettes from 2011. With just guitar, it sounded very much like Neil Young, until the band returned and joined in and the chaos started again. The second part of the show featured a selection of songs spanning the bands career, including a sombre Push It and a devasting Firefly that took many twists and turns before reaching the climatic ending.
Other than to tell us this “was the last gig of the tour”, Maas hardly talked to the crowd. The music was simply too intense for light hearted banter. Without a Trace, Turkish, Entrance Song and Molly Moves My Generation bought the beautiful noise to an end, and with a simple “Thank You” the band left the stage.
The music for the evening was atmospheric and dark, layered atop a psychedelic vibe, and that was true of both bands playing. It was indeed a beautiful noise.
Live Review by Geoff Jenke