Thousand-Yard Blare: Vitrify Lays Down the Law

Kurt Vonnegut loved the blues, and considered the genre a remedy for depression and despair.

“Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God,” the late author, who also had an equal affinity for classical and jazz, once said. “It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life, I can listen to music and it makes such a difference.”

The irony that the great American satirist’s many must-read works have also inspired a wide range of musical magic makes Vonnegut a kind of muse. From the Grateful Dead to Ice Nine Kills, his influence on musicians is far-reaching, seemingly never-ending and, in some cases, surprising.

Kaden Bonafede, vocalist-guitarist of local group Vitrify, first came across Vonnegut while reading Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse-Five as a student at Golden High School and instantly became a fan of his signature sardonic social commentaries, particularly his takes on war.

“Kurt Vonnegut was the first person who I really saw criticize war in a way that made me really think about it,” says Bonafede, who graduated in 2024.

Take Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut’s anti-war magnum opus pulled from his personal experiences in WWII as a U.S. soldier and POW during the Battle of the Bulge and subsequent Allied bombing of Dresden, and how it explores the fallout it had on not only himself — shared through the lens of fictional main character Billy Pilgrim — but all those who lived through that time. What about this: The grandfather of Bonafede’s high school band director was involved in the Dresden bombing on the American side, too. So it goes.

“It’s super interesting the way he looks at the way the mental effects that traumatic events have on you and can put it in sci-fi to fictionalize the internal struggle that’s going on with someone who experiences stuff like that,” Bonafede continues, further dissecting Vonnegut. “That’s what led me down the rabbit hole initially.”

Happy to uncover similar sentiments throughout literature, particularly the poetry of WWI English soldier Wilfred Owen and Dalton Trumbo’s 1939 war-horror novel “Johnny Got His Gun” (Metallica’s “One” is about that book), the metal-loving Bonafede began writing lyrics in the same vein, critiquing the brutality and often strong-armed oppression of the country’s military might. A year ago, he created a fitting outlet for it — Vitrify.

The sludgy Denver duo, which includes drummer Griffin Brown, has since released a demo, Krieg, and the scathing sixteen-minute single “Dulce Et Decorum Est” (the title means “it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country,” which was sarcastically included in an Owen poem).

“At this point, it’s almost like a cliché to criticize the military industrial complex because it’s been going on for so long, but at the same time, people will acknowledge that it’s bad, but don’t understand the extent of the power that’s at play, throughout all of modern history,” Bonafede says.  

With such songs as “FOR HONOR / FOR GLORY,” “TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER” and “1000 YARD STARE,” Vitrify hopes people will take a moment to listen and consider the powers that are at play here, including with current wars and militaristic overreach. Vitrify is playing locally twice this week: First, on Thursday, December 18, at HQ with Viperwitch, Witch Hound and Dirty Kings. Then on Sunday, December 21, at D3 Arts alongside Pseudocoma, Grendel and Ash Tree Lane; entry is a $10 suggested donation at the door.

“The overall message of our work is encouraging the listener to think more critically about the information they’re fed about the mass news media and the people who get to the control the narrative,” Bonafede explains. “We use war and the military industrial complex as a framing device for that overall theme. It’s about being more of an open-minded and critically thinking individual within society.”

And Vitrify delivers that message loudly, so much so that people are often surprised to learn it’s coming from just two people.

“It’s almost always, ‘How do you make so much noise with just the two of you?’ We get that almost every show,” Bonafede shares. “ … It’s literally just been trial and error. I play out of a little tiny 100-watt combo amp.  I’ve just tweaked the tone until it’s gotten to a point that I really like.”

With doom-laden stoner-sludge akin to the NOLA variant, à la Eyehategod, Bonafede and Brown dispel “a barrage of noise and feedback, screaming and growling,” as Bonafede describes it.

And there are plans to put together a proper full-length sometime next year, under his own Ozymandias Records DIY tape label, so Vitrify won’t be quieting down and following orders anytime soon.

“I think it’s something that’s ingrained within society that whenever something violent and terrible happens,” Bonafede concludes, “it’s the job of the artists to counteract that with their art.”

Vitrify, with Viperwitch, Witch Hound and Dirty Kings, 8 p.m. Thursday, December 18, HQ, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $14.