Yob, Black Cobra & Deathkings Play Sold-Out Show At The Echo

Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Andrew Hernandez

November 20th 2015, The Echo, Los Angeles CA: Following a successful North American support run with Enslaved earlier in the year, Eugene, Oregon doom veterans Yob embarked on a four-week Fall 2015 US headline tour of their own, along with support acts Black Cobra. Still on the touring cycle for their mesmerizing seventh full-length album ‘Clearing The Path To Ascend’ which was released via Neurot Recordings in 2014, Yob have been satiating doom fans across the globe, with the record as well as the live show. Towards the end of this latest run, Yob and Black Cobra arrived at the Echo in Los Angeles last Friday November 20th for a gig presented by Church Of The 8th Day and also featuring Deathkings as local openers. The Los Angeles underground metal community gathered in numbers to make it a sold-out event, and anticipated quite a treat of all things heavy.

Doors opened at 8:30, and Los Angeles quartet Deathkings started proceedings at 9 in front of an already sizable audience, bringing their brand of bleak, ritualistic doom. Their transitions between clean and harsh vocals, and lengthy songs boasting of arrangements varying from slow, heavy doom to faster segments intertwined with quiet, mellow interludes left first-timers in attendance unanimously impressed. Deathkings also brought their legion of regular attendees to this show, and even though the band has developed a strong reputation for flawlessly spectacular live shows through performances at other venues in the past, this particular set at the Echo had something special. This show clearly meant a lot to them and they delved deep within to find that extra ounce of strength and skill. They played just three songs but the set lasted nearly 40 minutes, and included the title track from their 2011 debut full-length ‘Destroyer’, the tune ‘Solomon’ off of their 2015 split release with Rozamov, and a new composition ‘Sol Invictus’. Deathkings are not your run-of-the-mill doom band, and whether you’re a doom fan or not, they never fail to impress.

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Set List:
01. Sol Invictus
02. Solomon
03. Destroyer

Next up, San Francisco’s finest sonic annihilators Black Cobra took the stage to deliver a set that far exceeded the expectations of even their most diehard fans, and bulldozed this room flat with its otherworldly heaviness. It’s always astounding to witness the sheer power and volume of a live Black Cobra show, emanating from a mere two-piece lineup of Jason Landrian (guitar and vocals) and Rafael Martinez (drums), but this aspect of the band was at its absolute peak at this show and this was by far the most devastating set Black Cobra have ever played in Los Angeles. The intensity was relentless, and not surprisingly, they were the only band of the show to garner any mosh pits. The atmosphere in this room during their set was full of energy and fury, as heads were banging non-stop and the pit moved constantly at rapid rates. They’ve played LA shows at venues like the Satellite and Complex in the recent past, but they sounded the cleanest here at the Echo which heightened the impact of their set that much more. Landrian and Martinez were so in-the-zone, laying down one crushing tune after another from their four-album, 15-year career, it was a treat to witness, and they were rightly greeted with deafening applause after the end of the set. They almost did not make it to the show as they had a horrific van accident a few days prior, and had they not been here, this show would have certainly suffered, probably not in the turnout but in terms of the pure quality of the live music on offer. As far as live bands go, one simply can’t get more destructive than Black Cobra. Considering that they made it here only because Yob let them hop into their van with all of their gear, it is nothing short of sacrilegious to say this but in all honesty, it has to be said: Black Cobra put on a show-stealing performance that left me in no doubt that they were the best band of the night, and fully convinced that the headliner would not be able to outdo this band’s efforts as far as this show was concerned.

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Set List:
01. Five Daggers
02. Storm Shadow
03. The Messenger
04. Corrosion Fields
05. Chronosphere
06. Red Tide
07. Avalanche
08. Swords For Teeth
09. Omniscient
10. Abyss
11. Obliteration

And lastly at around 11:15, with their unique setup of frontman Mike Scheidt facing the stage sideways, Yob came and did what they do best, playing a 5-song, 90-minute set of righteous doom, with Scheidt pouring all his heart and soul into each and every note, succeeding in recreating the same level of expression and emotion that decorates the records to such spellbinding effect. The set included two compositions from the latest album ‘Clearing The Path To Ascend’, and the tune ‘Marrow’ in particular came across as magical in the truest sense and stood out as the highlight of the entire set. The sound level and mix was beyond perfect and this grateful audience got treated to the live Yob experience in all its sonic glory. Fans loved every moment of it and looked genuinely overcome by the impact this performance made on them.

When perceived and judged on its own, this Yob set was undeniably amazing, but honestly, after such an exhilerating Black Cobra set, Yob was not a great follow-up in my humble opinion. It was the exact same predicament as Windhand following Danava at the Roxy a few weeks ago. Doom metal certainly has its own qualities and traits that separate it from other sub-genres of heavy music, and there is a lot of great doom out there these days with bands old and new coming up with some of their best work, but when it comes to the flow of a live show, a doom band is perhaps not best suited to follow faster, more aggressive bands, as it significantly lessens the impact of their performance. It was proved on this occasion, as there was a bit too much of a disparity between Black Cobra’s neckbreaking, throat-grabbing onslaught of 11 3-4 minute ragers, and Yob’s emotive, chilled-out, extremely slow and long jams.

That being said, it was a tremendous exhibition by all three bands, and the event was undoubtedly a success, leaving attendees with no regrets whatsoever for choosing this one over the plethora of other shows taking place elsewhere in town on the same night. The heaviest Friday of the year, by far.

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