Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
[Videos by Arturo Gallegos]
September 26th 2014, Complex, Glendale CA: Oakland stoner/thrash band Saviours have been largely inactive in the recent past, but to celebrate their tenth anniversary they’ve come out of hibernation to play a few shows, and this run included a headline gig at Complex in Glendale along with local support from Damnatösque and Bastard. It has been three years, almost exactly to the day, since I last saw Saviours open for Weedeater at the Key Club on October 2nd 2011. Their latest record Death’s Procession had just come out at the time, they were on fire, and it was disappointing to see them disappear, but I was supremely stoked in equal measure to see them after all this time, for this show put together by local promoters Ovrcast Collective and the fine folks at Complex.
Unfortunately I missed out on the local openers this time due to prior commitments elsewhere, but our man Arturo Gallegos was obviously there the whole show and got HD video footage of all three bands. The show was opened by Motörhead inspired D-beat punk band Damnatösque, and here’s how their set went down:
Next up was Bastard, featuring Chris Velez (Lightning Swords Of Death) on guitar, a three-piece old-school metal band also in the vein of Motörhead, as the name would suggest, but with additional elements as well, and by the looks and sounds of it, their brand of straightforward metal got a good response from the crowd.
Video footage of Bastard’s full set (starts at the 2:30 mark):
I arrived at the venue just as Damnatosque had ended their set. I was delighted to see Complex completely packed, and LA’s local/underground metal community appeared to have come out in full force to support Saviours. There were many familiar faces and unlike the other event I attended earlier the same evening, I felt comfortable and at home, waiting eagerly for the Saviours set to begin.
Quite aptly, Saviours started off with ‘Circle Of Servants Bodies’, a tune off of the 2005 ‘Warship’ EP, and after taking a few minutes to fix and eventually find a replacement for guitarist Sonny Reinhardt’s amp head, Saviours went on to play a righteous career-spanning set of foot-stomping, fist-pumping stoner metal tinged with just the perfect blend of doom, punk and thrash. The three Death’s Procession tunes namely ‘To The Grave Possessed’, ‘Crete’n’ and ‘Walk To The Light’ formed the middle of the set and was certainly my favorite part of it. Frontman Austin Barber, now busy with LA hardcore punk outfit Obliterations wherein he performs bass duties, was in his element and excelled on both guitar and vocals, while drummer Scott Batiste and new bassist Andy Anderson held strong on the rhythm section. The crowd was absolutely loving this Saviours performance, the inebriated members of the audience starting mosh pits during the faster segments of the music.
This gig showed that even when they’re not active, Saviours are much loved and supported in LA’s local circle, specially among musicians in other metal bands, and people definitely did not forget them, which doesn’t happen in every case and is no mean feat in itself, because for a different band in the same situation, this place might well have been empty. Besides, it was a glorious reminder of the greatness of Saviours as a live band, and regardless of whether this run of shows remains a one-off or they decide to re-emerge, this gig will go down as a memorable one for all attendees.
Set List:
01. Circle Of Servants Bodies
02. Rise To Pyramid Form
03. Into Abaddon
04. To The Grave Possessed
05. Crete’n
06. Walk To The Light
07. Mystichasm
08. We Roam
09. Slave To The Hex
Check out video footage of the full Saviours set: