By Taylor Younani
April 11th 2014, The Roxy, West Hollywood CA: While the Roxy Theater in Hollywood has been host to countless metal shows throughout history, never before have they hosted such a splendidly ‘prog’ show. With British tech giants Tesseract headlining in support of their sophomore album Altered State, the marquee atop the Roxy boasted a sold-out sign to let all of Sunset Blvd know that the new wave of progressive metal had arrived in Hollywood that night.
Beginning the night of music was a much anticipated performance from Ohio native, Ben Sharp, who under the moniker Cloudkicker has been releasing highly atmospheric post-metal since 2007. Literally achieving notoriety and a swarm of cult fans from his work posted on the internet, Ben Sharp has quickly become one of the most praised solo musicians in the prog scene today, and I was fortunate enough that after several years of being a fan I was finally able to see him perform on stage. Seeing as though his music is created using various programs and thanks to countless hours of production from the comfort of his home, Sharp required a live backing band for his performance, and thanks to the help of tour mates Intronaut, he had just that. What can I say about Cloudkicker’s performance, other than that it was everything I had been waiting to see since the first time I had heard his music. When he opened his set with “The warmth of the daytime seemed like a dream now,” the crowd erupted into a head-banging frenzy with all those in attendance seemingly mesmerized by the sound Cloudkicker put out. With the help of Intronaut, Sharp was able to lock into the signature grooves his fans have fallen so in love with, and the atmosphere created within the Roxy was so unbelievably haunting that few people could refrain from closing their eyes and swaying to the music. Having a third guitar present really elevated the music and was clearly useful in creating the atmosphere Cloudkicker is known for, while also giving Sharp room to show off his skills as a lead guitarist. Although Sharp said very few words to the audience, his performance left me equally speechless and left me wanting more Cloudkicker music as soon as possible. All in all it was a fantastic Los Angeles debut for Cloudkicker and I am sure that in the future the city will welcome him back with open arms.
Visit Cloudkicker on the web:
CloudkickerMusic.com
instagram.com/CloudkickerMusic
Set List:
01. The warmth of the daytime seemed like a dream now.
02. A weather front was stalled out in the Pacific–like a lonely person, lost in thought, oblivious of time.
03. Here, wait a minute! Damn it!
04. We’re goin’ in. We’re going down.
05. Seriosity
06. You and Yours
07. Dysphoria
08. You could laugh forever but never end up happy.
09. Push it way up!
Next to take the stage were Los Angeles natives and prog-metal veterans Intronaut. Having not seen Intronaut since their supporting tour with Cynic in 2010, I was extremely eager to welcome them home and enjoy some of the tunes from their latest release, Habitual Levitations. First off, this band deserves some credit for their amazingly hard work on this tour. Not only are the members of Intronaut giving a solid performance each and every night, but they have learned Cloudkicker’s songs and take the stage with him at every show. Despite the fact that they have played two 45 minute sets on each night of the tour, Intronaut managed to put on an incredible performance. Opening their set with “Killing Birds with Stones” was an excellent way to bring some energy out from the crowd and gave those in the audience a taste of what Intronaut is all about. It is amazing to me that four people are able to emit such rich and full music, and you can tell from the members’ chemistry on stage that they have been performing together for almost a decade. The abundance of lasers and fog effects truly created the mood for the the set while the band continued to play a number of songs from their latest release and it was clear that there were a number of Intronaut fans throughout the crowd. Vocalists Sascha Dunable and Dave Timnick bring a wonderfully heavy yet soothing vocal spin to the metal community and it was awesome to hear it replicated in such an intimate venue.
Visit Intronaut on the web:
IntronautOfficial.com
facebook.com/Intronaut
twitter.com/Intronaut
instagram.com/Intronaut_Official
Set List:
01. Killing Birds With Stones
02. Steps
03. The Welding
04. Harmonomicon
05. Vernon
06. The Way Down
Finally the moment had come when headlining act Tesseract made their way onto stage. I have been lucky enough to have seen Tesseract perform with both Daniel Tompkins and Elliot Coleman as their vocalists, so I was thrilled that I would be able to add new vocalist, Ashe O’Hara to that list. Although the band was missing guitarist James Monteith, from the moment the first song hit it was clear how rich and fulfilling Tesseract’s live tone was. Opening their set with “Exile,” my personal favorite from the last album, the crowd was clearly in awe of Acle Kahney’s lead guitar work. This man truly pioneered a sound, or at least helped refine it, and it was great to be able to see him perform yet again. The crowd was constantly singing along as the band continued to perform every song from the six-part “Concealing Fate” segment from the album One, and I was incredibly thrilled to be able to hear Ashe O’Hara absolute dominant vocals that were not meant for him to begin with. I was a bit weary that Ashe would be unable to replicate Daniel Tompkins’ vocal performance; however I am humbled when I say that he did a fantastic job and the crowd really seemed to take to his presence on stage. Everything about the set list that night was incredible and it really managed to demonstrate how much Tesseract have grown not only as individual musicians, but as a band, over the last few years. The performance reminded me why Tesseract has risen to prosperity in the prog-metal community and I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to see them again.
Visit Tesseract on the web:
Tesseract.co.uk
facebook.com/TesseractBand
twitter.com/TesseractBand
instagram.com/TesseractBand
Set List:
01. Of Mind – Exile
02. Concealing Fate, Part 2: Deception
03. Concealing Fate, Part 3: The Impossible
04. Concealing Fate, Part 4: Perfection
05. Concealing Fate, Part 5: Epiphany
06. Concealing Fate, Part 6: Origin
07. Of Matter – Proxy
08. Of Matter – Retrospect
09. Of Matter – Resist
10. April
11. Of Energy – Singularity
12. Of Mind – Nocturne
Encore:
13. Concealing Fate, Part 1: Acceptance
Remaining Tour Dates:
4/18/2014 The Pawn Shop Edmonton AB
4/19/2014 Republik Calgary AB
4/22/2014 The Railyard Billings MT
4/23/2014 The Marquis Theatre Denver CO
4/25/2014 Skyway Theater – Studio B Minneapolis MN
4/26/2014 Agora Ballroom Cleveland OH
4/27/2014 The Chance Theater, Poughkeepsie NY
4/28/2014 Brighton Music Hall Boston MA
4/29/2014 The Barbary Philadelphia PA (Sold Out)
4/30/2014 Irving Plaza New York NY
Visit the Roxy on the web:
theRoxy.com
facebook.com/theRoxy
twitter.com/theRoxy
instagram.com/theRoxy