Review by Andrew Bansal
[Live photos by Karina Diane]
July 9th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Arizona speed metal veterans Flotsam And Jetsam embarked on a short US West Coast run with support acts Exmortus and Hatchet yesterday, starting it off with a gig at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood. Their longstanding association with classic American metal was built through highly revered early albums and they’ve still maintained it with compelling recent albums such as ‘Ugly Noise’ (2012) and the release of a re-recorded version of ‘No Place For Disgrace’ earlier this year. Flotsam And Jetsam looked poised to bring their repertoire to this stage and play in front of eagerly awaiting fans. I’d never previously seen them live so the prospect of rectifying that was very much exciting, to say the least.
The show started at 7:30 and there was a small matter of three local openers before the touring package was unwrapped. The most and only noteworthy of these local bands was San Fernando Valley’s quartet Social Overload who played an extremely solid 25-minute set filled to the brim with a blend of thrash, punk and traditional metal. The musicianship they portrayed has certainly been done before by many, but Social Overload did it well and made an impact by putting forth a strong sound to go with great energy and stage presence. The mid-range clean vocals suited the music aptly and the guitar solos all sounded very delicious. Social Overload got the crowd moving and mosh pits ensued at regular intervals during their set. Also, they clearly brought their own fans to the show, as some were heard demanding for their seemingly most popular song ‘Heavy Metal Hammer’, which came as the final and best item of the set. Social Overload excelled at everything that’s required of a local opener at a metal show, and fans of bands like Flotsam wouldn’t do themselves any disservice whatsoever by checking out these guys.
Social Overload links:
HeavyMetalHammer.com
The first band on the touring lineup Hatchet took the stage at 9:45 for a 30-minute set. The San Francisco Bay Area thrashers put out a new album called ‘Dawn Of The End’ via The End Records last year and included a few songs off of it here, its title track turning out to be the highlight of the set for me. Their slower, mid-paced tunes/parts in this set came across with much stronger conviction and made a greater impact than the faster ones, partly because the drums were drowning out the guitars to a noticeable degree in those fast-paced segments, which in all probability wasn’t the band’s fault. Vocalist/guitarist Julz Ramos did a fine job fronting the band and his band mates provided able support, but this crowd was mostly standing still for during the set and it wasn’t the kind of response Hatchet would have expected. In that sense they’ve had better shows here and certainly will do in the future, but those attending any show(s) on this tour can rely upon Hatchet to tear up the stage with some good ol’ thrash.
Hatchet links:
facebook.com/HatchetOfficial
twitter.com/HatchetThrash
Next up was Los Angeles’ own Exmortus, still riding high on the release of their newest full-length ‘Slave To The Sword’ via Prosthetic Records, undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year so far, and crushing stages all over North America, touring relentlessly and presenting their overwhelmingly insane and high-octane brand of neoclassical thrash metal to the masses. Here they played a 30-minute set which was a surprise in no small measure considering they were billed as main support for the lineup and definitely deserved a much longer set. Anyhow, they made best use of the given time by focussing solely on the new album, playing as many as five songs off of it, this time ‘Immortality Made Flesh’ standing out as my favorite item of the set, and I’m pretty sure the main riff of that song is ingrained in my mind for eternity. I’ve seen Exmortus a ridiculous number of times over the years, to the extent that I was burned out on them at one point, but that changed once the new album arrived and now with every gig they succeed in not only raising the bar of their own performance levels but take themselves higher and higher on my list of favorite live bands. They were on a whole another altitude at this Whisky show and I’d never enjoyed their show as much as this. I’d go as far as saying they were the best band of the night. There was little to no moshing during their set but that was merely because they stunned and awed this audience into complete silence and undivided attention with their scorching guitar work and relentless rhythm. Exmortus are hitting glorious peaks in live musicianship, and now is the best time to see them in concert. Exmortus is heavy metal on crack, and every reader of this site is prescribed an overdose.
Exmortus links:
facebook.com/ExmortusOfficial
twitter.com/ExmortusBand
instagram.com/Exmortus_Official
Set List:
01. Moonlight Sonata (Act 3)
02. Foe Hammer
03. Immortality Made Flesh
04. Slave To The Sword
05. Metal Is King
At 11:20, the five members of Flotsam And Jetsam quietly descended upon the stage and went on to play about 85 minutes of classic unadulterated speed metal, with no fake exits or encores and with very little talking in between songs. This performance was definitely of the kind that moved through the gears and gained in momentum as it went along instead of starting out all-guns-blazing, and it was most evident in vocalist Eric A. ‘A.K.’ Knutson’s delivery which strengthened further and further from one song to the next, as he hit his peak on the two back-to-back Ugly Noise songs ‘Gitty Up’ and ‘Play Your Part’ and managed to ride on it for the remainder of the set. They played three songs off of Ugly Noise and five off of No Place For Disgrace which altogether comprised more than half of the set. All three of the Ugly Noise tunes sounded excellent and no less than any of the older selections, although obviously the crowd’s response was much more vocal and energetic for the old gems, mosh pits brewing instantly for most of them.
They did suffer from technical issues during the first half of the set with one of the guitars cutting out and a screeching feedback noise coming out of the other, ironically putting the band’s 2012 album title into perspective. But aside from that, the band’s performance was in keeping with their reputation and history. Unlike a lot of older bands that carry on despite the disappearance of most of their original members, Flotsam And Jetsam still very much consists of its original nucleus with Eric Knutson on vocals, Kelly David Smith on drums and Michael Gilbert on guitar, Jason Newsted’s original 1986 replacement Michael Spencer also back into the fold on bass after being absent from the band from 1987-2013. This line does perfect justice in presenting classic Flotsam And Jetsam at its best, and if I had to pick my favorite segments of the set, I’d have to go with the Ugly Noise material, ‘Gitty Up’ and ‘Run And Hide’ in particular.
Turnout-wise, the show did better than I was honestly expecting and the venue was mostly occupied with people although not jam-packed, but the crowd’s overall energy throughout the night, even during Flotsam’s set, left a lot to be desired. I’ve attended literally all thrash shows here in the recent past and this was the weakest crowd. When none of the Whisky’s security staff members are called into action to control a mosh pit or to throw out an overzealous crowd-surfer or stage-diver, it’s a telling sign of the lack of energy. The atmosphere inside the Whisky being filled with electronic cigarette smoke instead of the marijuana scent was another reason for the old-school metalhead to be baffled and miffed, but nonetheless, from the band and venue’s perspective there was a satisfactory number of people who’d come out to support Flotsam And Jetsam and the other bands.
But, despite Flotsam’s awesome showing here, I somehow got a feeling there’s another gear in them, and for that reason, ticket holders and prospective ticket buyers in the cities this tour is hitting should count themselves lucky because I have no doubt that Flotsam And Jetsam’s show will only get better, thrashier and more powerful as this tour progresses.
Flotsam And Jetsam links:
Flotsam-And-Jetsam.com
facebook.com/FlotsamAndJetsam.Official
twitter.com/FlotzTilDeath
Set List:
01. Empty Air
02. Dreams Of Death
03. Word On You
04. Desecrator
05. Smoked Out
06. Gitty Up
07. Play Your Part
08. Hammer Head
09. Iron Tears
10. Escape From Within
11. Me
12. Run And Hide
13. I Live You Die
14. Doomsday For The Deceiver
15. No Place For Disgrace
Remaining Tour Dates:
7/10/2014 Slims – San Francisco, CA
7/11/2014 The Boardwalk – Orangevale, CA
7/12/2014 Tonic Lounge – Portland, OR
7/13/2014 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
7/15/2014 Club 412 – Spokane, WA
7/17/2014 Lofi Cafe – Salt Lake City, UT
7/18/2014 LVCS – Las Vegas, NV
7/19/2014 Club Red – Mesa, AZ