Podcast: Tubal Cain’s bare-bones black metal

The Madison duo play an April 14 show at Mickey’s Tavern.

Madison duo Tubal Cain formed from the remains of a much-missed local metal band, The Antiprism. While their former band had a healthy tendency to mix in elements of prog-rock and stately Maiden-like melodies, drummer/vocalist Kristine Drake and guitarist/vocalist Alex Drake take a more stripped down approach in Tubal Cain, drawing on their love of old-school black metal, especially Darkthrone.

The Drakes have a great vocal chemistry, between Alex’s deep growl and Kristine’s paint-peeling rasp. Tubal Cain’s first album, Black Eden, was unceremoniously released last summer on cassette, and the duo say they probably won’t put it online, though they do have a few demos on Bandcamp. They still write solid riffs, as captured on Black Eden‘s swaggering title track and the doom-y chug of “Dreamquest.” The production of the eight-song album captures the gratifying, murky aggression of the band’s live sets.

Tubal Cain will be playing an April 14 show at Mickey’s Tavern with gothic-country duo Those Poor Bastards. Ahead of that, they joined me for a conversation about their music. Give it a listen below.

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