By Lisa Burke
July 25th 2015, Loaded Rock Bar, Hollywood CA: Last Saturday night at Loaded Rock Bar I had the privilege of seeing bands that all fit within one of my favorite genres of metal, Black Metal. First I must mention that this show was put together by Church Of The 8th Day and The Elegy Ensemble who always understand how to book bands that fit well together, and still put on a variety of different shows. It’s a crucial part of any good show to fit the right bands together because not only is the audience going to enjoy more than one band, but they will also stay for or arrive early to see the other bands, and discover new music which gains all bands new fans.
The first band on stage was Ancestral Awakening. They are a blackened doom metal band and very technically driven. I enjoyed the consistent brutality and while there aren’t a whole lot of lyrics happening with these guys they weren’t really missed. Their title is appropriate in my opinion because it is like they are channeling their doom metal ancestors. That said however, there really isn’t anything unique happening with this band but it makes for some pretty good atmospheric music if you like mixing blackend doom with your tea in the morning.
Next up was a band called Raise The Guns who are actually very much thrash metal, but still deserve to be on this bill. These guys have a very powerful and aggressive sound mixed with a good concept. I wasn’t however terribly impressed with the duel singing going on. It was unnecessary and the two voices didn’t mix well together. The guitar played itself, meaning the talent seemed effortless though at times I wanted the pitch an octave lower. Overall, a very well rounded band and an entertaining experience.
Following this was Gravespell who are black/death metal. There was shredding, growling, hair whipping, and that’s about all that sticks out in my mind about these guys. For sure it was entertaining but perhaps they need a slightly more unique approach to be more memorable.
Moving to the highlight of the night, and the reason I was excited to come to this show, Thorns Of Sin took the stage. This is a brand new, very blackened thrash metal band that already has a large following, badass t-shirts available, and this was only their second show. Since I’m on the fashion subject I’ll mention that these guys were dressed perfectly for the occasion complete with the singer’s ‘arm thorns’ for lack of a better term, but really all you need to know is that their style was good as the music and that’s a huge compliment. Getting back to the music, I was blown away from the begining and by the end of the show I think I washed up on the shore of Japan. There were jaws dropping all over the floor, and that’s a whole lot of jaws because the room was packed. Everyone in this band appeared extremely comfortable and confident with the style of the music they were playing, and there is a definite powerful uniqueness that sticks out in this wonderfully mixed blend of black and thrash metal. The vocals kicked ass, the guitar shredded my face, the bass was awesomely brutal, and the drums were fantastically headbangable. This band was so good I don’t even care that headbangable probably isn’t a real word. In all seriousness, I can not wait to see them play again and I’m throwing in my vote for a Loaded weekly residency because as far as small venues are concerned Loaded by far has the best sound quality and space set up. When starting as a brand new band it’s so important that the sound quality is good because you don’t want to give anyone an unnecessary reason to leave the room when you are still building a fan base. Thorns Of Sin, however, did not even need the extra sound quality help because like I said, the room was packed and they sounded like they had been playing for years. I can’t remember the last time I got this excited about hearing something new. Congrats guys, where’s my album already?
Lastly and unfortunately for them, I was so happy at the end of the set that I forgot there was a headliner, Empyrean Throne, which is a symphonic black metal band. Symphonic is not usually my thing as well as I don’t like it mixed in my metal. It’s like putting milk in your tea, and if you don’t know what that means, it means you took the easy way out. I guess I’ll end this here since i have to go back to Loaded soon so i can pick up my jaw that i left on the floor.