By Andrew Bansal
August 2nd 2015, Complex, Glendale CA: Minneapolis MN stoner rock quartet Wicked Inquisition made a visit to the Los Angeles area on their ongoing touring run, for a gig with hometown bands Mammoth and Poweraxe at Complex in Glendale, presented by Church Of The 8th Day. As a refreshing change to Metal Assault’s last few outings at this venue, this three-pronged lineup of talented groups treated attendees to a low-key, relaxed evening of delightfully diverse jams.
Doors opened at 8:40 and at 9:10, Los Angeles-based three-piece band Poweraxe began proceedings with a set of tunes where the music varied between mellow effects/distortion laden passages to violent drum-centric outbursts of primal psych. Despite being devoid of a guitarist in their lineup, Poweraxe were the heaviest band of the show and both the bassist and the keyboardist used incredible arrays of effect pedals to lend a multi-dimensional edge to the band’s sound. Poweraxe’s exhibition came across as mindbendingly psychedelic and would form an ideal soundtrack to a powerful hallucinogenic trip.
Next up, Hollywood-based instrumental prog trio Mammoth took the stage to lay down some scintillating sequences of notes and patterns, all three members showing their class and prowess, with plenty of finger-tapping and rim play going on with the guitar and drums respectively, and the three layers taking equal prominence. The last time I saw them was opening for Mr. Big last February at the Saban Theatre, on a stage ten times as big as this. They held an entire theatre attentive on that occasion, and were able to bring the same power to this relatively tiny room, this time sans the tie-dye shirts. They find the balance between the heavy grooves and the dreamy mellow segments, as is proven in plenty on their recently released ‘Innate’ EP. Mammoth will certainly be at the forefront of the next wave of Los Angeles prog rock.
And lastly, Wicked Inquisition hit the stage for a much more traditional variant of heavy music, sonically revolving around Vitus worship and Gibson guitars, and visually represented by bell-bottoms. They played some very easily appreciable soul-southing classic heavy bluesy stoner jams and made it worthwhile for the attendees. A little over two weeks prior, Minneapolis band False graced this stage with success, and last night, Wicked Inquisition retained and enhanced the reputation of their hometown in the eyes and ears of the LA underground. Righteous performance, in every aspect.
The turnout was certainly lower than usual, but ironically, the low-key events invariably turn out to be more enjoyable, as was the case last night. Readers are strongly enouraged to listen to Poweraxe, Mammoth and Wicked Inquisition, and those in Los Angeles would serve themselves right by subscribing to Church Of The 8th Day and Complex for alerts on all things heavy. All in all, a flawlessly excellent evening of live music.