By Avinash Mittur
January 7th 2012, Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA: Nearly twenty years ago, the band that headlined Club Nokia last Saturday night, Sanctuary, disbanded. From its remains came the genre-defying Nevermore. After two decades of some of the most innovative progressive/power/thrash metal yet recorded, the band splintered. Now from the remains of Nevermore, Sanctuary rises once again, ready to deliver their unique take on classic heavy metal.
Unfortunately, this show was plagued with problems even before the night began. To begin with, the band booked a venue far beyond the scope of their present fan base. To make matters even worse, the show was extremely poorly promoted. The only way I learned about the concert was from a random Ticketmaster listing. Sanctuary did not do any press work in promoting this short tour, and only announced the show on their social media pages an hour before the show began. Lastly, the tickets were extremely overpriced, beginning at $40 after “convenience charges” from Ticketmaster. Even if one bought tickets from the box office the day of the show, tickets were still $33.
Two additional openers, Huntress and Bonded By Blood, were added on to the bill due to the concert remaining undersold in the weeks leading up the date. While the bands themselves were more than worthy of playing on this bill, their addition to the show resulted in unreasonably short set-times for all of the opening acts.
The first group, Huntress, tore through their fifteen minute set with a style of classic metal infused with noticeable thrash influences, not unlike the headliner of this show. Huntress’ most immediate calling card, frontwoman Jill Janus, was more than happy to show off her piercing wails while the rest of the band carried on with their riffing and soloing. After seeing countless classic metal revival acts, I have to admit to being numb to new acts in this style of music. While I can’t say I was overly excited by their set, they certainly did not perform any worse than the many other young bands currently roaming the club circuit.
Next up came Bonded By Blood, Pomona’s gift to the Southern California thrash metal scene. After seeing the band pulverize Slim’s in San Francisco nearly one year ago, last night was unfortunately a bit of a downgrade from the prior performance. The band has clearly suffered from their last massive lineup change, with guitarist Alex Lee and bassist Jerry Garcia leaving the band to pursue other interests. Last night, Bonded By Blood’s remaining guitarist, Juan Juarez was forced to cover for both himself and Alex. While Juan did an admirable job of covering the solos, it was apparent that the band needed a second guitarist during those parts. It’s tough to think of a successful thrash band that doesn’t have two guitarists, and unfortunately Bonded By Blood did not prove to be the exception last night. The songs were still fun however, and singer Mauro Gonzalez gave an energetic and reliable performance as always.
Set List:
1. Civil Servant
2. Another Disease
3. Mind Pollution
4. Prison Planet
5. Blood Spilled Offerings
6. Immortal Life
The final opening act was Warbringer, perhaps one of the youngest bands in thrash history to deserve the moniker of road veterans. The band has been known to offer some of thrash metal’s most vicious performances, and singer John Kevill has quickly established himself as one of the most manic, yet consistent frontmen in thrash today. Despite having only twenty minutes to play, Warbringer quite easily stole the show. With a set heavy on their newest album, “Worlds Torn Asunder,” the band ripped through their set with hardly a break in between songs. Their newest classics, “Living Weapon” and “Shattered Like Glass” drew a great reception from the small crowd, but their warhorse, “Total War,” incited the first (and most lethal) mosh pit of the night. Shouts of “one more song” could be heard from the crowd upon the end of their set; it’s a testament to the band’s outstanding performance that they left their audience begging for more.
Set List:
1. Living Weapon
2. Shattered Like Glass
3. Living In A Whirlwind
4. Treacherous Tongue
5. Demonic Ecstasy
6. Total War
After a short turnover, Sanctuary came on to finish the night up. Vocalist Warrel Dane came out to simply announce “2012… the Mayans predicted that this the year the sun died.” Hardcore followers of the band recognized this as a nod towards their forthcoming album, “The Year the Sun Died.” The band then launched into “Eden Lies Obscured” from their 1990 magnum opus, “Into the Mirror Black.” As expected, the set focused solely on the aforementioned album and their 1988 debut, “Refuge Denied.” It was disappointing not to hear any new material, but it wasn’t something to really expect from a band on its first tour in twenty years. The band, now augmented by one-time axeman Brad Hull on guitar, performed well despite a myriad of technical issues throughout the set. It began with bassist Jim Sheppard’s guitar strap breaking, and continued with many signal issues with Brad’s guitar. In a hilariously Spinal Tap moment, Brad’s wireless unit for his guitar and amp failed, which was followed by various issues with the amp itself. Much to my pleasant surprise, Warrel was a more than capable frontman last night. He would attempt to entertain the audience while the band took care of the tech issues, and even conversed with those in the front row occasionally. And amazingly enough, he hit high notes like there was no tomorrow despite being noticeably sick. Seeing him cough in between verses was unfortunately very common. He used his lower register that many know from his time in Nevermore, but incorporated his absurdly high screams that was his signature in Sanctuary. Vocally, his only issue was keeping the mic close to his face. There were times when his vocals would cut in and out because his hands would be moving the mic about. Despite this, he hit every note he attempted, and is probably as good as he as ever sounded.
The technical issues ate up far too much time in the set, resulting in “Veil of Disguise” being cut. Considering the band’s short set length to begin with, I feel that cutting a song was undeserved and unnecessary. In addition, original guitarist Lenny Rutledge and Brad seemed unused to the stage. Both remained stoic, while Jim and Warrel prowled the stage frequently. Drummer Dave Budbill successfully recreated his parts, and ended up giving the only flawless performance of the band’s set. Lastly, the crowd was far too small for Club Nokia, with only a handful of fans showing a tangible level of enthusiasm. This could easily be attributed to the poor promotion and pricing of the event. With the exception of “Veil of Disguise,” the band covered all of the necessary songs in their small discography. “One More Murder,” “Future Tense,” “Taste Revenge,” and of course, “Battle Angels” were the easy highlights. Their set was enjoyable, but there was certainly much room for improvement.
This show could have been far greater than it turned out to be, but unfortunately it could only be called enjoyable. If the show had proper organization, promotion and ticket pricing, appropriately long sets from the opening acts, and fewer tech issues with Sanctuary, this concert could have been phenomenal. However as it stands, this show was average, and arguably not worth the high ticket price. Here’s hoping the next time Sanctuary comes by will be a better experience. In the meantime, I will happily be thrashing at Warbringer’s next performance at Club Nokia with Iced Earth and Symphony X.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Related: Picture Gallery
Set List:
1. Eden Lies Obscured
2. Die for My Sins
3. Battle Angels
4. Seasons of Destruction
5. White Rabbit
6. The Mirror Black
7. Sanctuary
8. Future Tense
9. One More Murder
10.Soldiers of Steel
11.Termination Force
12.Long Since Dark
13.Taste Revenge
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