By Andrew Bansal
Dec. 3rd 2011, Five Star Bar, Los Angeles CA: I had never been to this venue before last night, and it was about time I made a visit. After all, it takes a mere 10-minute walk for me to get there. It can’t get any easier than that, unless of course my house becomes a concert venue. The Blvd in Boyle Heights was pretty much my favorite LA venue till it existed, and ever since it closed down, I had been looking for a good, do-it-yourself underground metal venue. Based on last night’s show I can confidently say that I’ve found my answer in the Five Star Bar. The show last night featured Australian extreme metal bands Impetuous Ritual and Grave Upheaval along with support from Portland’s Ritual Necromancy and three local openers. I wasn’t familiar with any of these bands to be honest, but I stepped into this adventure with an open mind.
The show started at around 8.15 with very short sets from the local bands Old Coven, Demonslaught and Execution. While they played, the crowd was steadily increasing in number. These bands weren’t bad at all, and did enough to justify their spots on this bill. All three of them played a pretty similar style of music, and I would describe it as blackened thrash metal much like that of Venom and Toxic Holocaust. Out of these three, Execution was the band that impressed me most, and I would be definitely inclined to check them out the next time they play a show. They were the last of the openers and were done by 10 PM.
It took a while for the first of the touring bands to set up their stage, and for some reason it wasn’t Ritual Necromancy as scheduled. They switched slots with Grave Upheaval and the Australians went on first. Aside from the band Mournful Congregation, I had never heard of any extreme metal bands coming out of Australia before last night, so I was really looking forward to see the two Aussie groups on this bill. Well, I didn’t really get to see much of Grave Upheaval, because of the unbelievably large amounts of smoke used by them. They were literally invisible. Even though they weren’t seen by many, they sure were heard by everyone. Their music was loud, chaotic and relentless. It was a non-stop barrage of brutality. They literally created hell inside that venue, to the extent that a few people started feeling uncomfortable due to the smoke and decibel level.
The touring bands were using the same gear, so as soon as Grave Upheaval’s onslaught ended, Ritual Necromancy’s set began within a few minutes. Their music was something I personally was able to appreciate a little bit more, as they had more of a structure to their tunes, and it was built around riffs and grooves. There were a few guitar solos here and there as well. But it was equally menacing nonetheless. Their brutal set came to an end, and the headline act Impetuous Ritual took the stage to round out this hellish show in the most perfect way possible. As compared to the other two bands on the tour, they had a much darker feel about them, both in terms of the music and appearance. Even though it had been a pretty long night of music already, the place was still very much packed and the crowd was totally into it.
The anger that brews inside these mystical Australians was quite apparent from their performances last night. Impetuous Ritual and Grave Upheaval left no stone unturned in expressing themselves on that stage, and the crowd loved it. The $10 door cover, cheap beer and obscure extreme music made it a worthwhile show for everyone in attendance. I was really glad to see the show get such a good turnout, because the Los Angeles metal scene needs places like these to flourish. I can’t wait to make another visit to the Five Star Bar, which is just one day away, as another Australian massacre beckons, in the form of Mournful Congregation who are set to play here on Monday December 5th. All in all, a brutal night in every sense of the term.
Rating: 9/10
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