By Andrew Bansal
April 19th 2015, Loaded Rock Bar, Hollywood CA: Continuing on with their newfound weekly tradition of free Sunday rock/metal matinee gigs, Loaded Hollywood hosted another such event yesterday, as part of Metal Sanaz’ birthday celebration for which she had booked the entire day and night at the venue and featured a long lineup of hand-picked bands. I was in attendance only for the matinee portion of the event, which started with Kings Of Carnage and also included Edge Of Paradise and Beneath Flesh.
Kings Of Carnage is a Hollywood-based band comprising entirely of five dudes who are each both US military veterans and Musicians Institute graduates. When they stepped on stage to set up their equipment, I must admit I already envisioned what their music would sound like. I expected them to be yet another Pantera ripoff. But I was proven wrong and was pleasantly surprised by what I eventually heard from them, a blend of heavy music comprising aggression as well as melody, as clean singing and melodic guitar harmonies punctuated the harsh vocals and heavy riffs. Kings Of Carnage are legit heavy metal and have something good going for themselves.
Beneath Flesh, who played the Crematorium show at Complex the previous night, looked burned out but still gave it their all. Their performance was certainly better on Saturday night but attendees here at Loaded seemed impressed by them regardless, and Beneath Flesh did their reputation no harm whatsoever. They will be playing on this stage again on May 9th, and fans of the likes of Cattle Decapitation are encouraged to check them out.
Next up were Edge Of Paradise, changing the vibe completely and presenting their brand of laid-back, melodic progressive metal, playing songs off of their upcoming album ‘Immortal Waltz’ as well as putting forth an excellent rendition of Black Sabbath’s ‘Children Of The Sea’. Frontwoman Margarita Monet did a fine job on vocals throughout the set and sang with much expression, specially on the Sabbath cover. The track “It’s My Show” came across as a departure from the band’s usual style, sounded a lot like an Alice Cooper-inspired tune, and even employed the usage of stage props instantly reminiscent of the legend. Edge Of Paradise have developed their craft over a number of years now, and with the imminent release of their album, this is the best time to catch them performing on stage.
Overall, another expectedly fruitful Sunday afternoon outing at Loaded.