Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Jay Valena
March 28th 2016, The Regent, Los Angeles CA: The 2016 edition of the annual Decibel Magazine Tour features Norwegian black metal icon and former Immortal frontman Abbath’s new eponymous band as the headliner, along with support acts High On Fire, Skeletonwitch and Tribulation, and visited Los Angeles for a gig at the Regent Theatre in downtown LA. The last time Immortal played a show in this town was as far back as 2010 at the Avalon, and this being the first sighting of any of its current/former members since then, the LA black/extreme metal faithful was in high anticipation of this gig, and turned up in huge numbers to attend it. Decibel tours invariably deliver the goods year after year, and much was expected from Abbath and the rest of this lineup. Whether these expectations were met, was a different story altogether.
Doors opened at 7 PM, and at 7:30, Swedish extreme metal band Tribulation opened the show. This may have been too early for most LA folks on a Monday night, as the Regent was nowhere near packed to capacity during Tribulation’s set. I never had a proper chance to check out Tribulation prior to this, and observing the fan-following they seem to enjoy, I always wondered whether they were worthy of the type. Unfortunately, their brand of goth-tinged black/death metal completely failed to impress, and based on this set it has to be said that they’re a massively overrated and overhyped band. Tribulation did not succeed in making a great first impression, but at least they weren’t the most overrated band on this lineup.
Next up, Ohio blackened thrashers Skeletonwitch came out all-guns-blazing with the level of intensity this show so desperately needed after its incredibly weak start. Having parted ways with Chance Garnette and now moving forward with new vocalist Adam Clemens, Skeletonwitch have everything to prove at this point of their career, but until the new album comes out, they still have back catalog to rely on, and they presented a small chunk of it in this set, even going back to the much loved 2007 ‘Beyond The Permafrost’ album. They also played two brand new songs, ‘Well Of Despair’ and ‘Black Waters’, the latter highly impressive in particular, bringing forth a delightful rock ‘n roll element to go with the black thrash fury, and one hopes for this blend to dominate the band’s next album. Bands like Goatwhore have earned great degrees of respect and admiration with their influx of rock ‘n roll in extreme metal, and Skeletonwitch seem to be soldiering along a similar path. Adam Clemens held his own and did a tremendous job on all songs old and new. It cannot be denied that the sheer stage presence of Chance Garnette would be missed and that fans are still coming to terms with his departure, but Clemens showed that he has all it takes to grow into this role and fill those shoes to perfection. Skeletonwitch were by far the best band of this show, even though the in-house lighting director made every effort to ensure that no one got to see the band on a stage which was nothing less than a sea of darkness.
Then came the only band of the lineup that’s not labeled as extreme metal, North California stoner metal trio High On Fire. The band has been around since 1998 and is highly touted as a major influence by many stoner rock groups that came forward in the subsequent generation, but even after several attempts to get in tune with their music, I fail to understand why that’s the case. This performance further solidified the verdict that High On Fire is right up there amongst the most overrated bands on the planet. They were not a good fit in this lineup, and quite simply stated, their one-hour set was one hour too long.
And finally it was time for the headline act Abbath, although as it turned out, the band’s performance wasn’t all that worthy of being deemed as the headliner. Abbath played a few songs from the self-titled debut solo album as well as Immortal covers, but on his own, despite bringing his iconic frontmanship to the stage, he was nowhere near as powerful as he was with Immortal in 2010, and that Immortal gig, now more than six years ago, still remains more memorable while this Abbath show will soon be forgotten for its mediocrity. The set was monotonic and uninteresting, and the most entertaining moment was without doubt when Abbath inadvertently fell off the stage. Besides the lack of power in the music itself, the excessive usage of strobe lighting did not help matters. It was as if the strong and incessant strobes were supposed to make you feel like the music is so extreme that it’s inducing seizures, while in reality that was most definitely not the case. That being said, the largely inebriated crowd was having a total blast, and were more than happy to get to see their favorite black metal frontman.
In all honesty, Abbath’s solo band is shockingly underwhelming, and so is this year’s Decibel Magazine Tour lineup, which delivered far better lineups in past years.
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Remaining Tour Dates:
Friday, April 1 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Saturday, April 2 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
Tuesday, April 5 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
Wednesday, April 6 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theater
Thursday, April 7 – Minneapolis, MN – Mill City Nights
Friday, April 8 – Chicago, IL – Metro
Saturday, April 9 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom
Sunday, April 10 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House
Tuesday, April 12 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
Thursday, April 14 – Boston, MA – Royale
Friday, April 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer