By Lisa Burke
February 22nd 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Los Angeles does not ever fall short on entertainment no matter what day of the week it is, and despite tour packages that set up bands to roll through strange towns on all nights of the week making the turnout hit or miss, you can count on even a Monday night in the world of metal at the Whisky-A-Go-Go to sell out, especially for a Fleshgod Apocalypse show. This headlining tour for Fleshgod Apocalypse carried with them support acts Carach Angren and Abigail Williams, with local acts Miscreancy, Transcend The Realm, and Luna Occulta.
I arrived for the tail end of Miscreancy, but what I heard was some pretty badass brutal blackened death metal in a fast and furious consummation. Keep up that energy and you’ll go places, hail Satan, and I’ll catch more next time for sure. Abigail Williams ravished the stage with their presence next, and as usual they did not disappoint, although the lack of lighting for their entire set from the Whisky lighting designer, which included bright stage lights left on to shine in their eyes during the whole set, was a disappointment to the band and audience. The singer announced nicely that he would play when the bright lights were turned out and no one listened. Was the person responsible asleep or what? At least the whole band had their adorable-in-a-metal-sort-of-way black hoodies on to keep some of the light out of their eyes. I’ve never seen anything like that happen there and I was upset for them. Regardless, they powered through like champs and after surviving a long draining tour already as I watched them it seemed as though I was watching the Mad Max road warrior version of Abigail Williams which I wasn’t opposed to. While their set list is never too lengthy, they make up for it in duration of tunes and it is highly admirable to watch a black metal band perform an 18-minute long song that is nothing short of deathly beautiful from start to finish and I am of course referring to the song ‘Beyond The Veil’. The song ‘Last Communion’ is always a hit, and one aspect of this band I’ve always appreciated is the transition in genre from deathcore to very classy black metal and I still enjoy all of it. For this particular show no one took the center stage spot but stood off to the sides, perhaps to show the drummer better? If so then cool, because I always like when the drummer gets more than normal attention since they are the glue that holds the band together and then some. I’m even a fan of drummers in unusual spots on stage as it always makes for an interesting conundrum. All throughout the set, the magic of Ken Sorceron shines through and there is no denying the talent, from the riffage to the vocals, as well as the creative drumming and appropriate use of backing tracks to even out the righteousness.
This lineup proved to be as fun as I thought it was going to be, because horror black metal icons Carach Angren were up next to vomit their metal theatrics all over the stage. This band is normally a trio as the singer plays guitar as well, but on this tour they recruited a guitar player who with the exception of his wild curly hair blended in quite well with the rest of the team and proved his worth. There were theatrical poses, black metal face paint, and hair whipping galore, and I found myself picturing the wedding scene from Beetlejuice where all hell breaks loose and thinking these guys could provide a great soundtrack to that. They were like the horror clowns of black metal who traveled from the Netherlands to feed your soul with symphony-fueled fun. I was particularly fond of the drummer’s standing poses after an accomplishment, and wouldn’t you know it, they got some good lighting as well. It was interesting that the keyboards took such precedence and there was no bass, yet in this group I found it worked well as the keyboardist was not only wholly fun but fully creative also. If you are thrilled by the oddities of black metal you will at the very least get a kick out of these guys.
Carach Angren Set List:
01. Once Upon A Time…
02. There’s No Place Like Home
03. The Sighting is a Portent of Doom
04. Lingering in an Imprint Haunting
05. When Crows Tick on Windows
06. The Carriage Wheel Murder
07. Spectral Infantry Battalions
08. Bitte Tötet Mich
09. Two Flies Flew Into a Black Sugar Cobweb
10. Bloodstains on the Captain’s Log
Finally it was Fleshgod Apocalypse time and in this packed-to-the-max seemingly all ages show, breathing became a challenge yet the sacrifice was worth the prize. These crazy Italians do extreme metal right and it is actually surprising to me that they are so new to the metal world as they came into fruition in 2007. I was a fan of the period dress and mask with staff prop that the female backup vocalist was wearing and the uniform period grey button-up tail coats with cravats and riding boots was a great look for the rest of the band members as well, not to mention the drummer of course had only shirt sleeves and not jacket sleeves because I’m sure he sounds much better without constricted arms. When they took the stage it was as if they just landed their ship into the port and it was a grand entrance equal to that of a good Italian opera. The bass player had some really great backup operatic style vocals going on and between him, the female back up vocalist, and the piano player who had his back to the audience in the most dynamically directorial way ever, they really gave some creatively deep layers to the overall metal sound. The singer at one point toasted the audience with his glass of red wine which pretty much sums up who these guys are, as in it may as well have been a vampire toasting with a chalice of blood. I really loved this whole performance and thought about how important it is to really create a unique image not only in your music but also in your band through attire as well as stage props etc. I’m not saying every band needs costumes and props, but if your image is to be that band with no image, then you should know that that is still an image and will be judged accordingly. A favorite song of mine was ‘Requiem In Si Minore’ and after that was something out of an Edgar Allan Poe movie which was pretty delightful. At the end was ‘The Forsaking’ which achieved a positive crowd response, and despite the claustrophobic atmosphere I was sad to see it all end.
Whether these bands fit your genre or not, you can always take away a few notes on what makes a band stand out from a crowd and excel. All three of these bands have out-of-the-box creativity to go with the understanding of how to mix and match elements into a unified comprehensible body of work. All I can say when I see something turn out with such excellence is, thank you for existing and please continue on your current mission.
Fleshgod Apocalypse Set List:
01. March Royale
02. In aeternum
03. Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon)
04. The Deceit
05. Pathfinder
06. Requiem In Si Minore
07. The Fool
08. Prologue
09. Epilogue
10. The Egoism
11. The Violation
12. In Honour Of Reason
13. The Forsaking
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