By Lisa Burke
May 13th 2016, Complex, Glendale CA: Friday the 13th is usually a day of luck and insanity when you are a person as unlucky as me, and on Friday May 13th 2016 I went to Complex in Glendale for another fun-packed night of heavy metal with headliners Widower and support acts Brain Dead, Ironaut and MutAgeN. This was one of those nights with heavy metal genres all over the map yet the overall outcome was cohesive, as all bands complimented each other in my mind and the progression to the top was a fun and interesting ride.
Local extreme metal band MutAgeN corrupted the stage with their mix of black metal, darkness and death. There was hair-whipping and weighted evilness galore, and if they had just a little more cohesion to each song it would have raised the bar for me. The drumming was working well and the vocals were consistent and they had interesting moments. This quintet was decent enough and a good opener for the evening despite probably taking the reign for heaviest band of the night, yet all the bands were heavy in their own right. For some strange reason, at the end of their set they thought they were possibly going to be able to play another song after the DJ took over, but I’ve never seen that happen ever and everyone knows when the DJ plays a tune it means it’s ‘get the fuck off the stage’ time.
Moving on to a band I’ve seen grow and change over time since their very beginning, local trio Ironaut blew up the stage with their eclectic mix of genres ranging from psychedelic to sludge to stoner to doom, to classic heavy metal and beyond. They played a very interesting set with three new songs, the first of which was called ‘My Little Girl’ which has a varied mix of styles going on in it that finally ends in doom and what is great about this is that not only is it exciting to hear a different set list when seeing a band more than once in a fairly short time span, but also that there seems to be slightly opposing forces going on here between singer/bass player Erik Kluiber and guitarist and founding member Pat McHugh, that when juxtaposed together create a very new and interesting sound that can’t be denied. This was their first time playing Complex, actually, and they achieved one of the best sound qualities of the night and the eerie echoes at one point on the microphone were a clever enhancement as well. Also, it was noted that having a beer holder attached to your microphone is not only convenient but also makes for good commentary between songs, and I’m really not sure why I haven’t seen these on stage more often. The second new song ‘Fire Eater’ had some flavor of High On Fire and even a touch of modern Megadeth and old-school Judas Priest in equal measures. The last new song they played for the first time live called ‘Iron Vessel’ was fairly invigorating and I must say it was again interesting to remember them as a stoner psychedelic jam band that had some soft melodies, and now they are fast and furious and heavy as fuck. By the end of this new song, the thought of Dave Mustaine on mushrooms came to mind and I had no complaints as this was an exciting combination. The vocals have taken on new adventures and balance the rest of the music even more appropriately than before. The most psychedelic song I feel is still ‘Acid Wash’, which I believe was played even faster and more furious that ever before, and this new experience was in no way bad. Overall, the band has definitely tightened up as a unit and the drumming still makes me think of a firing line and people throwing grenades in a chaotic manner that you know you can’t mess with, let alone survive the tactics. In most cases, structured experimentation is a useful tool to help a band grow to find their true inner voice, and I believe this is exactly what Ironaut have accomplished, which should create a wide open path for their future.
If you weren’t seeing double before, you certainly noticed it by the time the thrash twins of Brain Dead tore up the stage. I’m surprised that the stage at this venue is still in tact from all the abuse it receives. These guys are always a fun trio from beginning to end, and seeing the black and white polka dot guitar soaring all over the stage, banging out creative riffs was pretty comical as well. At Complex, there is a mirror ball above the floor that this band insisted should be turned on and their request was granted which now meant even more polka dots of light on the floor for the audience to consume into their thrash-filled brains. The riffs were non-stop fun and flirty, the dual singing rocked the house, and the jokes were on some level of funny including the one where the singer announced “if you like us we’re Brain Dead and if you don’t we’re Night Demon”. They mix the thrash and lighthearted punk very well and it’s a party explosion on stage. If you weren’t sure thrash was still thriving and surviving in 2016, go check these guys out and you will feel quite the opposite of disappointment.
To further intensify the glory of heavy metal insanity, Austin, Texas band Widower vomited awesomeness all over the stage. This foursome had a beautiful mix of black and thrash, the lyrics expressing black metal humor but sung with a thrashy tone. The dual vocals worked well and they carried with them from start to finish that charisma that puts them in a category of their own high above any average competitors. Their fashion sense was appropriately appeasing to the genre with the singer’s badass black and studded gauntlets and shin guards. They are 100 per cent killing every community they enter with their black toasty thrash, and I highly recommend you get on board with these creative children of Satan. Blackened thrash is such an exciting genre to begin with, and after adding a bunch of talented Texans into the broth you’ve got yourself a hard act to follow, which is probably why it was set up so no one did. I hope these guys come back to LA soon because I believe there may just be a shortage of blackened thrash in this town and these guys are among the top shelf variety. Coordinating schedules and booking bands together is not an easy feat in Los Angeles with so much happening every night, plus it’s even more challenging to find variety that works well together, and once again Church of the 8th Day has succeeded in another badass line up.
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