This weekend marked the return of King Woman, a shoe-gazing doom metal band that surely burst some eardrums and broke a few hearts. Fronted by Kristina Esfandiari, the band offered up its heavy sludge with a softness and sadness that was shrouded in layers of fog machine clouds.
At the Bay-area band’s Union Transfer show, where they opened for Russian Circles, it was impossible to stop watching Esfandiari. Her voice was low and husky – sometimes she was whispering lyrics like incantations, then howling “You can’t even look at me,” into the microphone as the music swelled behind her.
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