Review by Andrew Bansal
[Videos by Arturo Gallegos]
August 15th 2014, Five Star Bar, Los Angeles CA: Even in their short three-year existence so far, Los Angeles quintet Pendulous have blown minds and heightened senses with their brand of doom metal. Following the release of their debut EP ‘Mirrored Confessions’ last year, Pendulous began working on new material for a full-length album, which is now complete, and they embarked on a little West Coast run to present these tunes live. They returned home to play at the Five Star Bar with Sutratma and Weightlessness, and with original headliner Gravecode Nebula dropping out due to unavoidable vehicle problems, Pendulous became the headline act at this event, and despite the reduced lineup, a solid turnout and a great show was expected by promoters The Elegy Ensemble and everyone involved.
The start of the show was understandably pushed back, and doors opened at 9 with Weightlessness beginning proceedings at 9:50 with a 25-minute set. Hailing from San Diego, the they put on a mesmerizing exhibition of funeral doom, presenting deadly riffs interwoven with melodic passages. They positioned themselves down in front of the stage and not on it, thus further closing the distance between them and the crowd. The beauty in the minimalism and precision of every single note was almost palpable, and the band left this audience in a trance. They’ve cleared put thought into their name and chosen it cleverly, as it truly depicts the state of consciousness one reaches when experiencing their music, specially in the live setting.
Video footage:
Weightlessness links: facebook | bandcamp
Next was Ventura’s Sutratma who portrayed a similar style of music on this all-doom metal night at the Five Star Bar, although theirs was relatively more melancholic, expressive and more layered as it involved intros and interludes through the usage of a backing track. The lack of vocals in the mix has been an issue in metal shows at this venue, and although it didn’t affect Weightlessness all that much because of their mostly instrumental set, Sutratma’s vocalist was putting his heart, soul and more into his performance and hardly any of it was coming through to the audience. When perceived as instrumental, this Sutratma set was nothing short of great, making an impact deep down to the listener’s very soul, but there’s no doubt they’d sound even more powerful when mixed right.
Video footage:
Sutratma links: facebook | bandcamp
And finally at 11:50, it was the turn of Pendulous to play their set and present material exclusively from their forthcoming album “A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss”, which was welcomed by their local fan base present here, who’d seen the band perform the older tunes plenty of times in the recent past. In comparison to the ‘Mirrored Confessions’ EP which was by all means an epitome of doom-laden excellence, these new compositions came across with greater variety in tempo and an overall higher degree of impact with every passage and arrangement. Vocalist ERM, fronting the band in the true sense as he was positioned on the floor while his band mates were perched atop the stage, was as insane as ever with his vocal delivery as well as stage presence, but even though his vocals were more audible than either of the opening bands’, the level was still far from perfect.
I strongly think the 30-40 minute setup time for each band at this venue needs to include a few minutes for a full line check, to get an idea of how the vocals stand amidst the band’s full sound, and not merely checking the vocals separately from the other instruments. This is by no means the sound guy’s responsibility alone, and the bands themselves should ensure a proper mix before starting their set.
Anyway, coming back to Pendulous, they put on a fantastic performance and on the strength of their new material, they look poised to take themselves to the next level as doom merchants in LA and beyond. And overall, this was a great night of doom at the Five Star Bar. The genre has its dedicated following, but more people should embrace it because a live doom metal show is a very, very uplifting experience.
Video footage (check out Arturo Gallegos’ YouTube channel for more videos from the show and from other local metal shows):
Pendulous links: facebook | bandcamp
Elegy Ensemble links: facebook | instagram
Five Star Bar links: website | facebook | twitter