Breaking a string on stage—for only the third time in his career—could not stop Dallas Toler-Wade and the rest of the members of Narcotic Wasteland from shredding an hour-long set of raw yet refined-over-decades metal at Chapel of Bones, a coffee shop and metal music venue in Raleigh, NC that has quickly become a staple in the scene. On a dreary Wednesday evening in September, Narcotic Wasteland took the stage by storm, supported by two North Carolina native death metal bands: Dollhaver and Dunmharu. 

Dunmharu took the stage first and laid a heavy foot on the gas pedal without stopping. Blasting through one song to the next, they played half an hour of gut-punching old school influenced death metal. Playing songs from their debut EP, Criminally Insane, they showed a smoothness to their heavy riffs, fast paced drumming, chunky bass, and intensely deep vocals that left the audience throwing their horns up into the air.

Dollhaver came onto stage second and kicked up the static energy in the room several more notches with raw, sludgy death metal. Playing songs from their 2024 release, Cottonmouth, such as “Abyssal Mind”, they didn’t waste a single moment. Packed with one blasting song after the next, their set ran for thirty purely energetic minutes that left the crowd thrashing along to every electric, pounding riff.

Narcotic Wasteland rounded out the evening, the eighth night of their Annihilation of the Wasteland tour, with a power-packed hour of head-thrashing metal. Playing songs that spanned the decades, from their 2014 self-titled album Narcotic Wasteland to their most recent 2024 release “Barbarian”, they blasted the crowd with well-practiced, old-school inspired death metal. From Dallas Toler-Wade stage presence and deep death metal vocals to bassist Kenji Tsunami playing both bass and guitar while also using his feet to play a Roland Organ Pedal and drummer Joseph Howard sprinkling perfectly pitched screams throughout his drum playing, I was left astounded at the sheer talent of this group. As was the audience, all of whom head-banged and hollered as loud as they could in appreciation of the genius and sound throughout the entire evening.

If any of these bands makes its way back to a stage in the Raleigh area, I expect to find myself and you, reader, there! 

Review & photos by I’m Music Magazine contributing Photographer Shanna Rogers.

NARCOTIC WASTELAND

DOLLHAVER

DUNMHARU