By Andrew Bansal
March 17th 2015, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: In their short career thus far, Portland, Oregon riffmongers Lord Dying have toured with like-minded and musically similar bands such as Red Fang, The Shrine, Valient Thorr, Howl and Corrosion Of Conformity, to name a few. But following the January 2015 release of their sophomore LP ‘Poisoned Altars’ via Relapse Records, they embarked upon an adventurous run as main support to old-school metal veterans Anvil, facing the challenge of winning over Anvil fans every night on a full-on US tour, along with opening act Sunlord from New York City. In its final week, the touring triumvirate arrived in Los Angeles for a gig at the Whisky in West Hollywood last Tuesday March 17.
Doors opened at 7, and a while later, Sunlord took the stage for an impressive 30-minute set that garnered this band a whole new fan base in LA as most people in the crowd were entertained by their music. They presented some well-composed hard rock tunes from their 2013 debut full-length album simply titled ‘The First One’, and their vocalist/guitarist’s singing sounded exactly like Lemmy, which made it even easier to enjoy their set. Sunlord’s music came across as right up the alley for any and every Anvil fan that bothered to turn up early enough to watch their performance. 30 minutes of this band simply didn’t seem sufficient. It’s clear from their playing that having been around for more than a decade, the trio have mastered their respective instruments and taken plenty of time to write high-impact tunes. One hopes for them to do several more cross-country runs to rock for us on the left coast.
Frontman Erik Olson announced Lord Dying‘s arrival on the Whisky stage at 10:10, and delving straight into the punishing ‘Greed Is Your Horse’ tune from the 2013 debut album ‘Summon The Faithless’, the band put forth an intense 35-minute slab of heavier-than-earth stoner/sludge/doom music. With the influx of material from the new album ‘Poisoned Altars’, tunes such as ‘Offering Pain’, ‘Darkness Remains’ and the title track, Lord Dying’s live set has certainly taken on a darker character as compared to their shows on previous tours. It was gratifying to see them on a big, high stage such as this for a change, and them playing through a proficient sound system, which allowed the audience to get a true feel of the monstrosity of their riff avalanche. With the band freshly coming off the album release and raring to play these songs with every ounce of their energy and conviction, this is the best time to catch them. Ear-bleeding, foot-stomping PBR metal at its crushing best.
Remaining Tour Dates:
3/19 – Portland OR @ Tonic Lounge
3/20 – Seattle WA @ Studio Seven