By Andrew Bansal
August 29th 2015, Loaded Rock Bar, Hollywood CA: Los Angeles-based stoner rock quartet Yeghikian have been in existence for only a little over a year, but in the musical and non-musical aspects of all that entails being in a band, Yeghikian are already displaying the finesse and professionalism akin to that of a vastly experienced entity. They self-released a stellar debut full-length album called “You’re Next” in 2014, and have been winning the unanimous approval of LA audiences since. They left a longlasting impression on Metal Assault at a Viper Room headline gig in March 2015, and nearly six months later at Loaded Hollywood, they outdid themselves with a far superior performance that exceeded sky-high expectations.
At 10:10, they hit the stage and from the first note till the last, held the audience captive with their brand of heavy music which is rightly described in a broader sense as stoner rock but traveses a much wider spectrum. Besides the instantly catchy heavy riffs, Yeghikian’s music is overloaded with soaring clean vocals, twin guitar harmonies, solos, and a rich rhythm section of tasty bass licks and creative drum fills. All eight tracks on their 29-minute debut full-length are flawless, out of which they played six in this set and also included two new compositions, the opening item ‘Death Yearner’, and ‘Morning Star’, which in all honesty turned out to be the musical highlight of the performance. But tunes like ‘The Witch’ and the appropriately titled ‘Thunderstealer’ were mind-blowing, and the set came to a perfect end with ‘Alone In A Cave’. Yeghikian utilized every inch of Loaded’s stage space and every iota of the venue’s sonic strength to deliver an unforgettable show. Another aspect very much worth mentioning is that this band certainly sounds heavier on stage than on record, and when you’re listening to their album on CD or on Spotify, just imagine them being twice as heavy on stage. Amidst the 300-plus shows Metal Assault will end up attending by the end of this year, Yeghikian’s Viper Room gig and more so the one here at Loaded will stand out in memory.
They were not the headline act at this event, but stood out head and shoulders above the four other bands that they shared the stage with (and yes, I did see all of them). Despite playing a Troubadour gig merely a week prior, Yeghikian still drew the largest number of people to this Loaded gig and garnered the best response. Yeghikian’s music has what it takes to earn the respect of the underground elitists as well as be commercially successful, and they have the merchandise designs to financially sustain themselves. When they become the biggest band to have come out of Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future, you can look back at this article because you read about them here first.
Set List:
01. Death Yearner
02. Thunderstealer
03. Find A Way
04. Until The End
05. Morning Star
06. The Witch
07. The World Is Spinning
08. Alone In A Cave
Yeghikian links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
