Witch Club Satan at The Amsterdam Bar and Hall (June 8, 2026)

Witch Club Satan’s Founding of the North American Coven Tour reached St. Paul, Minnesota this Monday and We Heart Music was there to witness their first stop in Minnesota.

When you keep saying you’re going to quit, and you keep repeating the behavior, it would seem the only logical conclusion is that you have an addiction. So, despite me telling myself NO MORE hightailing it from one state to the next catching concerts, I’ve again relapsed. After 4 days of metal at Milwaukee Metal Fest I hightailed it back to Minnesota to catch one of my most anticipated shows of the year… Witch Club Satan.

Patriarchy

I arrived at St. Paul’s Amsterdam Bar and Hall early to get up front to catch opener Patriarchy. I always try to give extra time listening to bands I’m unfamiliar with, and Patriarchy was definitely intriguing to me when I put it on rotation. It is a flaw of mine that when younger I turned a cold shoulder to a lot of industrial and synth-heavy music. Metalhead snobbery will cost you kids… luckily, I’ve learned my lesson.

Live, both the music and performance were undeniable. I absolutely devoured both. Patriarchy is quite the duo, fronted by Actually Huizenga, a dynamic frontwoman on vocals and guitar, alongside “The Drummer,” handling percussion and synth. (There seems to be a thematic element of only referring to them as “The Drummer,” and so we will stick with that here.)

Live, their music is more guitar-heavy, distorted, and aggressive than I was expecting. Add to that elements of theatricality, subversion, provocation, discomfort, and erotic unease and what you get is a performance heavy on challenging both repression and indulgence of modern society. Patriarchy dives deep into themes of sexuality, power, gender, and voyeurism in a manner that makes audience members confront what both individuals and society at large simultaneously try to seek out and suppress. Patriarchy’s willingness to expose these themes through performance perfectly translates their music into something visually uncomfortable yet enticing. While musically very distinct from their headliner, the willingness to lead their audience into discomfort and intrigue fit perfectly on this bill.

Witch Club Satan

I was lucky enough to be given a front row seat to this band’s debut and development. None other than Behemoth’s Nergal has been pushing his fans to give them a listen, discussing on his Patreon the draw of this group and his appreciation of their artistry; that is precisely how I was introduced to them. Other heavy hitters such as Mayhem’s Necrobutcher have stood firmly behind them. As someone who likes to collect bands from all over, my one worry was if or when I would be able to see them live. There are several bands I follow in Europe, South America, and Africa who simply don’t pull the numbers needed in the US to afford to tour here. So, when Witch Club Satan announced their 2026 Founding of the North American Coven Tour, I was ready to drop anything and everything to make their show.

Now I will admit, having watched them via clips online I had a good understanding of what their show entailed. What I experienced was on an entirely different level altogether. Witch Club Satan takes one back to a time when black metal was heavy on avant-garde theatricality and an almost punk-rock style of confrontation, actively putting their audience mentally and emotionally on edge. Visual displays of blood, death, nudity, and occultism challenged the audience… “there is something deeply, deeply wrong.” What that wrong entailed could take many forms and Witch Club Satan has capitalized on this to challenge a world that accepts the status quo. When conformity, comfort, and pleasant agreeableness come with accepting genocide, racism, sexism, and violence on ethnic and sexual minority groups, then it’s only a matter of time before nonconformity, discomfort, and darkness feel like the more righteous path.

And what of rage? The thing we are supposed to learn to suppress and set aside. Tolerated to some degree by men, even by modern feminist standards it is often fully denied to women. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. Decorum is a prejudiced institution. In this case, any sentiment expressed in anger is dismissed. But what about feeling rage makes a sentiment untrue or unworthy of entering as a legitimate point of view? Take three deep breaths. Go for a walk. Read a book. Drink some water. I’ve imposed Minnesota’s 2026 winter and all its horror upon the lyrics of You Wildflower so thoroughly I can hardly listen to it without tearing up. The federal occupation of my state laid me in bed for months under terror and depression. It was Rage that raised me from my bed. It was rage that breathed life back into me. “You don’t give up, you don’t give up. The sky shivers, you don’t give up.” Seemed to perfectly resonate with the violent shifts between exhaustion and adrenaline I was experiencing. Rage can be righteous. Rage can inspire reflection. Rage can spur action. And with their heavy themes of feminism… why shouldn’t women, or anyone held under society’s thumb, be free to unleash it?

As the lights dimmed and fog poured onto the stage, the audience stood fixed, waiting for the band to take the stage. Instead, the stage remained empty. The band, instead, entered through the crowd, passing burning incense made of twigs and leaves in what looked like sigil forms. Donning white long skirts, bared breasts, and knitted shirts and headdresses, they embodied their namesake. The show transitioned from anointing their crowd, powerful moments of spoken word that brought some fans to tears, the searing screams of violence, blast beats, and heavy distorted guitars. Throughout the show, several costume changes were made, including a nearly nude performance in long black wigs for several songs in the middle of the show. Nudity is always a challenge, and female nudity has always had a blasphemous edge. And if art is a challenge for the mainstream, then it must be doing something right in my book. It was one of the finest Black Metal and theatrical performances I’ve seen this year… actually in my life. I expected nothing less than amazing, but I left feeling this show was something more than a good performance of music I loved. I felt important. The word ritual is a popular stand in these days for concerts in the Black Metal genre. But when you think of the process associated with this word- separation from ordinary life, intention and symbolism, liminal space, encounter and transformation, and return and integration… how many bands do it justice? I’ve seen a few, and Witch Club Satan is among them. I believe many people, myself included, felt this experience was transformational, sacred. Go for the show, stay for the experience, and with some shows selling out, grab any ticket you can and make the drive.

Tour Dates:

kris ♥ wheartm.com ♥ @weheartmusic ♥ weheartmusicgroup