Watch Wolf King Obliterate Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar

When Wolf King took the stage to kick off the sold-out final show of Rivers Of Nihil's Kerrang!-sponsored U.S. tour, the band knew what had to be done. Not only were they opening up for an insane bill featuring such diverse acts as tech-death crew Entheos, British up-and-comers Conjurer, and progressive death metal headliners Rivers, but they were also playing first...on the closing night of a huge tour...at arguably Brooklyn's most famous metal venue, Saint Vitus Bar. Basically, if there was ever a time to shine, it was now.

Then again, given what Wolf King did that night, shine might not be the right term -- rather, they plunged the crowd into a whirlpool of chaos and shadow. The California blackened hardcore quartet kicked off the evening with total rabidity, unleashing a blast of violent, kinetic energy into the room that blew the early crowd away. Frontman Tim Wilson leapt across the stage like a man possessed, and bellowed into the crowd as though they'd hurt him personally. It was the sort of live set one walks away from with the name of the band forever burnt into their memory.

Watch our footage of Wolf King's punishing performance below:

When we asked Tim about the Wolf King live experience in our Underground Sounds Of America profile of the band, he responded, "Expect a full raw live performance. This is who we are, I feel seeing Wolf King live is way better than hearing us on record. You have to witness the energy and the flow of our set live."

Describing the band's sound, the singer said, "We have a lot of supporting musicians who listen to a vast spectrum of music, that can really get into any style of music. I think [our groovier approach] came from over the years discovering new music, and then taking those elements that we really loved and applying it in our own way. Coming up with sick grooves isn’t easy, but I think we do a good job.”

Read this next:

• The Underground Sounds Of America: Wolf King
• Photos: Rivers Of Nihil and more bring chaos to Brooklyn
• The true story behind the most hated metal video of all time