By Andrew Bansal
October 12th 2013, The Joint, Los Angeles CA: A non-profit organization based out of Los Angeles, Furry Tails Rescue works towards rescuing animals from shelters, putting them up for adoption and providing them real homes. Local underground metal promoters Hate War Productions put together a gig last night at the Joint in West Los Angeles to help raise money for this great cause, and the lineup for the show featured five hometown bands Dreaming Dead, Destroy Judas, Scrapmetal, Harlequin and Taking Over. Besides the incentive of supporting the cause, there was plenty to look forward to for the local metal concert goer, with bands like Dreaming Dead and Destroy Judas having not played Los Angeles shows in quite a while and taking part in this gig on a Saturday night. I arrived at the venue a few minutes before the doors opened at 8 PM, and anticipated a great show.
Harlequin was the first band to take the stage at around 8:30, and it’s safe to say that this all-female extreme metal band impressed everyone present inside the venue with their 30-minute set. Aside from the typical death/thrash element, their tunes came across with a pleasantly surprising degree of variety, with the tempo changes going back and forth between fast thrashy bits and dark, slow, wintery passages keeping the audience’s interest intact for the entire duration of the set. The lead guitarist/vocalist did a great job with both aspects of her musicianship and was well-supported by her band mates, but all she needs at this point is to show a bit more confidence while talking to the crowd. While her vocals were perfectly aggressive and in tune with what’s required in an extreme metal band, she sounded really shy and nervous when addressing the crowd. With that said, they’re still a new band and will only learn from experience, but even as of now, they’re a good band worth checking out if you’re an extreme metal fan.
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The next band to hit the stage was thrash metal outfit Scrapmetal. After the kind of variety Harlequin showcased in their music, Scrapmetal turned out to be in stark contrast as their set was very one-dimensional and monotonous. They did a good job at playing a standard thrash style, and fans of the genre in this crowd seemed to dig the performance, but other than that there was nothing really great or special about their set, and their stage presence wasn’t exactly strong either. But as I said, if standard thrash metal is what you wanted to hear, these guys weren’t bad at fulfilling your appetite.
After Scrapmetal were done, the entire scenery inside the Joint was turned upside down. The stage was completely occupied with amps, as doom metal band Destroy Judas, the Los Angeles’ ‘kings of amplification’, were getting ready to begin their sonic onslaught for this audience, some of whom didn’t know what to expect and were observing the stage setup with bewildered looks on their faces. The drum kit, microphone stands and the guitar pedalboards were all placed below and in front of the stage, and a real wall of amps made for a ridiculously awesome scene. As soon as their projection screen was readied behind the amp wall, they played what turned out to be a mesmerizing 45-minute set which satiated their fans in the crowd, as the unsuspecting newbies and onlookers who weren’t familiar with the band were overcome with sheer shock and awe of what they were witnessing. Their music consisted of extended murky doom passages expressed through three-pronged guitar melodies. The visuals on the screen were an apt reflection of the music being played, and whenever the speed and intensity of the music was raised, the visuals got more chaotic. Perhaps the only negative of their set was that the vocals were drowned out by the music, but after observing the flaw for a song or two, I treated this Destroy Judas set as an instrumental one and forgot about the vocals, to be honest. I hadn’t seen this band in a long time, and I needed a reminder about just how great and unique they are. Last night I certainly got one. If my description of their music sounds like anything you would like, you need to do yourselves a favor and give these guys a listen.
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The unfortunate, unenviable task of following up to that Destroy Judas set went to the band Taking Over, a thrash trio along the lines of music that teutonic legends like Kreator and Destruction are known for. They only got to play a 15-minute set, and it was literally impossible for them to impress this audience as everyone was still recovering from the Destroy Judas set. So I would hold off on reviewing or critiquing Taking Over’s performance at this show and will do so at another time, hopefully when they’re not playing after Destroy Judas, and as for this show all I can do is give them props for turning up and playing despite being put on the lineup at short notice.
And finally at around 11:50 PM, the last band of the night Dreaming Dead took the stage. The last time I saw them was in 2011 at a strip club called Cheetahs for one of the ‘Peep & Destroy’ shows that used to take place regularly back then. That was certainly a weird setting for a metal show and I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, to be quite honest. This was a much better gig to catch them at, and they did not disappoint. Their set consisted of three songs from their Midnightmares album, including the title track, the song ‘Exile’ and the crowd favorite ‘Overlord’. There were a couple other songs in the set, at least one of which was a new, unreleased track. Back when I first discovered Dreaming Dead, I was catching on to a lot of local bands. Over these past few years, quite a few of them faded away or disappeared into obscurity. But last night I was glad to see that Dreaming Dead still has it in them to play impressive shows and write great music. Liz Schall was brilliant as ever on the guitar and vocals, with drummer Mike Caffell also chiming in with backing vocals and Chris McCarthy on the second guitar doing his bit as well. Dreaming Dead put on an excellent show last night, and I hope for them to be regularly active in the near future with gigs and new music.
Overall, this was a good gig showcasing some great local talent and at the same time helping a nice cause. But the turnout left a lot to be desired and it was disappointing to see the sheer lack of support, yet again, for this local show. Regardless, it’s a commendable initiative by the promoters in putting on a show of this kind, and I expect the metal community to participate in more such fundraisers.