Fin, Hellhunter, Varulf, Piss Baptism
Neck of the Woods
San Francisco, CA
November 6, 2026
Black Metal Friday night in the Richmond! I don’t go to many Black Metal shows, not really my thing, but when Hellhunter is playing their first show in nearly 14 months, I’m there.
I have mixed feelings about Neck of the Woods. The upstairs room is a comfortable space with lots of benches to sit and plenty of room for merch, and this time I was set up with a Hectic Records table selling the Hellhunter record.
The people who run the place are also really friendly, and they've been really stepping it up booking more metal acts. All ages too for that new generation of metal heads, which I appreciate.
But it is a tough place to have drinks. All the plastic cups are one size too small to the point where it is very noticeable (12 oz draft beers?) and a few dollars more than they are elsewhere. I like to support clubs that have live music by buying drinks (that’s my excuse at least), but it is kind of a weird experience, a somewhat corporate venue approach to booze in an otherwise cool indie club.
Alright, on to the show. The opener Piss Baptism unfortunately cancelled due to family emergency. Bit of a bummer, I was hoping to see these dudes who had a crazy guest appearance in at least one great metal video by Marcelle Marais (aka Cunnus of Vorlust). Next time.
Varulf, a local Bay Area black metal band, opened the show. A 5 piece band, with 2 guitarists and a singer, they all put on masks and the singer a hood after doing a sound check in a small club. Kinda funny, you’ve been standing right in front of us with no masks, we seen ya plenty already looking normal. But they were a great opener.
Varulf played a slower brand of Black Metal, with some melodic heavy parts. I liked it a lot more than I expected, even though the drummer was a bit of a “tapper”, the band was quite good. I’d check them out again on a bill for sure.
Hellhunter’s first show in a year got off to a slow start, with Will drumming along to Zepplin and Motorhead from the DJ, then the band ready to play and singer Gil was nowhere to be found. Some joker said “he’s coming” a couple of times, then I realized he was just talking shit, and went in the back room to rouse Gil, who was just putting his leather on.
Once they got started Hellhunter played a great energetic set, most of their first record as well as a lot of their most recent Hectic / Bleeding Priest Records release Hellbanger. Great set, a good crowd was there for them too.
Appropriately up last was Fin, a 2 piece black metal band from Chicago. They seemed to have a fan base in attendance (judging from their t-shirt sales at least).
Not having a bass player is too sparse for my taste. It just sounds off. I love a good 3 piece, but the 2 piece trend is a trend this old man can’t get behind. They were good, and the drummer was especially great, but something is missing without the low end.
–Hectic
