By Andrew Bansal
March 12th 2015, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: San Francisco Bay Area atmospheric extreme metal band Fallujah have taken giant strides in creativity in the past year through their highly impressive sophomore full-length effort ‘The Flesh Prevails’, garnering widespread praise both within and beyond the realms of the sub-genre. As a live band they have bettered themselves by leaps and bounds in comparison to their formative years, as they proved on the 2014 edition of the Summer Slaughter tour. Currently on a headline tour with support acts Archspire, Lorna Shore and The Zenith Passage, Fallujah arrived at the Whisky last Thursday March 12. At a venue where they’ve performed as an opening act a few times in the past, they had their name on top of its historic marquee on this occasion.
The first of the touring acts, Los Angeles-based The Zenith Passage hit the stage at 8:15 for a 30-minute exhibition of proper technical death metal. Their heavy grooves and intricate guitar-centric passages came across as a perfectly edible blend of music for the set of modern extreme metal loving, mostly under-21 attendees gathered here. Some of their choruses were accompanied by sections of the crowd singing along, so they clearly drew their own fans to this show and served as an ideal opening act for the touring package. Next up were New Jersey’s Lorna Shore, who succeeded in entertaining the crowd just as much, albeit through a different interpretation of modern metal. Theirs are the heaviest breakdowns you would ever hear, and this aspect of their musicianship is all the more appreciable if huge bass thumps are your thing.
Vancouver-based Archspire were the main support for the evening, bringing a strong element of shred, not only in the guitar playing but also in the vocals as frontman Oliver Rae Aleron belted out lyrics at a rate of knots. The 8-string and 7-string guitars were utilized excellently by the duo of Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli and the individual as well as collective skill level of the band members was evident through this set. Of course, no set from a Canadian band would be complete without quirky jokes that generate awkward silences amongst American audiences, and Archspire’s vocalist had those in plenty. A tremendous set that will certainly compel most in the audience to attend Archspire’s next show in town.
Up until this point, the show had flown by and the audience had enjoyed all the bands that played so far. The Whisky scheduled this event to end much earlier than the norm at the venue, and rightly so, considering the average age of the attendees. At 10:30, headliners Fallujah took the stage for a short but undoubtedly high-impact 35-minute set. Witnessing them as a headline act gave a truly indication of not only the ever-growing size of their fan-base, but their command over a crowd they knew as their own, and the vastness of the musical progress they’ve made from one album to the next. The crushing extreme metal passages are brilliantly complemented by well-crafted atmospheric interludes in their music, ‘The Flesh Prevails’ material in particular. As much as anything, it perhaps makes them one of the most stoner-friendly death metal bands going around, as was evident from the percentage of attendees in high spirits during their set.
Fallujah is a band to whom I once gave a negative review for a live performance that came much before the conception of ‘The Flesh Prevails’, and amongst all bands that have received negative reviews on this site, no one has turned it around to the extent Fallujah have. Fans of all things heavy and trippy, pick up Fallujah’s latest album and go see them in concert.
Remaining Tour Dates:
3/16 Phoenix, AZ @ Joe’s Grotto
3/18 Austin, TX @ Metalsucks SXSW Showcase
3/20 Austin, TX @ NEMHF SXSW Showcase
3/21 Mission, TX @ Never Say Never Fest
3/22 Fort Worth, TX @ South by So What Fest