Why any band would willingly attempt to play 21 shows in 21 days is a question best left to the gods of rock ’n’ roll, a particularly persuasive booking agent, or perhaps a coven with an unusually demanding calendar. Whatever dark magic brought Nashville’s All Them Witches to the midpoint of their ambitious “21 Shows in 21 Days” tour, Albany got the benefit of the bargain.
I’ve been digging All Them Witches (ATW) for a while and their performance on October 21 at Empire Live was nothing short of palpable, mesmerizing, and immersive. The band built an atmosphere, drawing the audience into a heavy, hypnotic current that ebbed and surged with deliberate precision. There were no cheap tricks or theatrical hocus-pocus, just the dark arts of volume, tone, and impeccable musicianship. But ahead of all that, there was an intimate solo set from Emma Ruth Rundle.
Armed with little more than her guitar and unmistakable voice, Rundle demonstrated that intimacy need not mean delicacy. Her music inhabits a compelling tension between restraint and release, with guitar lines that can feel almost fragile before revealing a darker, more forceful undercurrent. Her voice, meanwhile, carries the weight of someone who understands that anguish is most convincing when it doesn’t need to announce itself. The set moved through material including “Living With the Black Dog,” “Powerless,” “Darkhorse” and “Marked for Death,” songs whose emotional gravity suited the stripped-down setting. It was a fitting prelude to an evening built around the darker corners of rock music, though Rundle’s approach was less about conjuring a storm than letting the listener feel the pressure change. If Rundle supplied the introspection, All Them Witches would supply the combustion. It was a smart contrast, giving the evening emotional dimension before the amplifiers took over.
Formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2012, All Them Witches core lineup features Charles Michael Parks Jr. on bass and vocals, Ben McLeod on guitar, keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Allan Van Cleave and Christian Powers on drums. Together, these musicians have cultivated a sound that relies as much on chemistry and restraint as it does on sheer volume. Their music can move from a simmering, blues-soaked groove to a wall of fuzzed-out thunder without losing its hypnotic center. Think less haunted-house soundtrack, more midnight ritual in a desert where the amplifiers never cool. With the release of 2026’s House of Mirrors, their seventh studio album continues their steady evolution from raw heaviness toward increasingly expansive and atmospheric compositions. Their greatest trick may be making adventurous, extended psych-rock feel so instinctive. There’s a method to the madness, a carefully controlled chaos that keeps listeners suspended somewhere between a deep trance and a full-blown sonic exorcism.
The evening’s musical incantation began with “Am I Going Up?,” an appropriately disorienting invitation to leave ordinary reality behind. “Angel on the Wayside” and “Bulls” established a deep, unhurried groove, while “Starting Line” and “Culling Line” demonstrated the band’s knack for balancing melodic hooks with muscular, blues-driven heaviness. “Diamond,” from 2018’s ATW album, offered another dose of psychedelic atmosphere before “The Marriage of Coyote Woman” summoned the band’s more mystical side. With a title like that, the latter practically demanded a place in the Halloween-season grimoire. Yet the real magic wasn’t in the names, it was in the way the songs unfolded, revealing new textures and darker corners as the musicians worked through each passage. There was a confidence to the band’s delivery, a collective understanding of when to let a groove simmer and when to turn up the heat until the room practically levitated.
“Fishbelly 86 Onions” and “Saturn Song” carried the audience further into the band’s cosmic orbit. “Aethernet” continued the exploratory journey, while “Workhorse” felt particularly fitting for a group twelve nights into a grueling touring marathon. The band’s stamina was impressive, but so was its restraint. Rather than rush through the set, All Them Witches allowed the music to breathe, trusting the groove to do its sorcery. “When God Comes Back” brought a heavier, more imposing presence, its title alone enough to raise an eyebrow in a room full of Halloween enthusiasts. “See You Next Fall” and my personal favorite “Alabaster” rounded out the main set, leaving the crowd steeped in the band’s richly layered sound and howling for a more.
Returning for a single song encore, ATW closed the performance with “Red Rocking Chair,” a traditional song with a decidedly darker interpretation. Its haunted atmosphere and weighty musical turns provided a fitting final chapter to the evening’s ritual. If the band had been reading from The Necronomicon all night, this was the closing spell.
What separates All Them Witches from many of their heavy-rock contemporaries is their understanding that loudness alone isn’t the point. The band knows when to summon the thunder and when to let a single riff, a bass line, or a pocket of silence work its magic. The contrast makes the heavy passages feel heavier and the quieter moments all the more absorbing. That chemistry is especially noteworthy on a tour demanding a performance every day for three weeks. Twelve shows in, the musicians sounded cohesive and assured, with the kind of intuitive interplay that lets a band take chances without losing its footing.
The road can be a merciless alchemist, stripping away excess and leaving only what works. At Empire Live, All Them Witches sounded like a group that had distilled its sound to its most potent form. The riffs were bewitching, the grooves hex-appealing, and the guitar work positively spellbinding. But beneath the seasonal wordplay was a serious musical achievement. A band that understands its strengths and has the confidence to let them unfold without forcing the moment. Why undertake 21 shows in 21 days? Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between the demands of the road and the peculiar alchemy that happens when musicians commit themselves to the grind. Whatever the motivation, Night 12 found All Them Witches sounding anything but depleted. No tricks, just treats.
All Them Witches | October 21, 2026 | Empire Live | Albany, NY
Setlist: Am I Going Up?, Angel on the Wayside, Bulls, Starting Line, Culling Line, Diamond, The Marriage of Coyote Woman, Fishbelly 86 Onions, Saturn Song, Aethernet, Workhorse, When God Comes Back, See You Next Fall, Alabaster
Encore: Red Rocking Chair
Emma Ruth Rundle | October 21, 2026 | Empire Live | Albany, NY
Setlist: Living with the Black Dog, Citadel, Powerless, Catherine Wheel, Darkhorse, Marked for Death, Real Big Sky.
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