By Andrew Bansal
May 25th 2016, Complex, Glendale CA: UK hardcore punk/crossover thrash veterans English Dogs returned to the States for a short headline run this month, and as part of the tour, played a show at Complex in Glendale last Wednesday May 25th 2016. Black Cobra, Witchaven and Temple Of Dagon served as support acts and the event was put together by Church Of The 8th Day. With English Dogs’ unabated old-school crossover thrash, Black Cobra’s sheer devastation, Witchaven’s relentless black thrash and Temple Of Dagon’s extreme metal, this promised to be an all-killer, no-filler show from beginning to end.
North Hollywood quintet Temple Of Dagon took the stage at around 9:15. Their vocalist had to position himself on the floor instead of the stage because English Dogs’ drumkit was set up and left to sit on stage for the entire time, leaving little room for the other bands to play in front of it, which was rather unnecessary for a stage as small as this. The drumkit could have been assembled and placed somewhere else, anywhere but the stage. Anyhow, Temple Of Dagon made the best of the opportunity presented to them and played a straightforward but effective set of crusty death/thrash, as the singer moved and danced around all over the floor while his bandmates put their heads down and hammered away at their respective instruments. An excellent start to a stellar evening of heavy music.
Next up, tireless road dogs and longstanding local stalwarts Witchaven took the stage for a quintessential slab of all things black thrash. Frontman Henry Montoya is never one to hold back when talking to the crowd between songs, neither did he on this occasion. He made some political statements (jokes?) and towards the end of the set clarified that he was only kidding, as most in the audience breathed a collective sigh of relief. Musically, Witchaven are stronger now than they’ve ever been and this performance was extremely solid, an energetic crowd of moshing thrash kids the only thing missing from this set. They slayed everything in sight when they played the same venue opening for Power From Hell not so long ago, and were just as good this time, but without the audience participation.
San Francisco’s most crushing duo of heavy music perpetrators Black Cobra were the main support for this gig. Surprisingly enough, they were in fact not on tour this time and did this as a one-off gig instead. Almost everyone in attendance would agree that they contributed immensely to the show, as the audience was closer to the stage for Black Cobra than they were for any of the other three bands. Drummer Rafael Martinez’ unique setup in the front portion of the stage, right next to his partner-in-crime vocalist/guitarist Jason Landrian’s setup, is also one of the reasons the audience is always drawn to it. They lived up to their reputation as the most destructive musical duo on the planet with an expectedly brutal set of tunes old and new. The set included songs off of their fifth and newest full-length studio album ‘Imperium Simulacra’ which was released earlier in 2016 via Season Of Mist. The 2009 tune ‘Chronosphere’ was the best among the older selections and one of the highlights of the set. The most striking feature of Black Cobra, perhaps not pointed out even in previous reviews on this site, is the dynamism in the songwriting and the perfect manner in which it is portrayed on stage. This is not your stripped-down, straightforward two-piece band by any means, but in fact the exact opposite of it. Black Cobra is one band that will never get boring or tiring to watch live.
Most bands headlining over Black Cobra have failed to follow the duo’s act, and it takes a great amount of energy and pedigree to match what Black Cobra does on stage. Fortunately, English Dogs possessed both qualities in plenty and brought forth a highly enjoyable set, presenting songs off of their latest full-length ‘The Thing With Two Heads’ (2014, Candlelight Records) as well as better-known classics. They dedicated ‘Freak Boy’ to the “ugliest thrash metal band in the world”, Exodus, as bassist Jack Gibson was in attendance and watched on from near the bar. Vocalist Adie Bailey put in a tremendous performance and brought a sprinkling of good ol’ dry British humor to the stage as he spoke between songs. But the driving force of the band’s live musicianship was lead guitarist Graham Butt who made guitar playing look easy and thoroughly impressed with his exploits on the instrument. Ironically, his expertise was very much reminiscent of Gary Holt. Butt also made a really great point, something which isn’t said or observed as much as it should be, about how English Dogs shows attract people of all kinds, tatted and not tatted, bearded and clean-shaven, short-haired and long-haired, fat and slim. This applies not just to English Dogs shows but to most shows in general, and proves that you don’t need to conform to a dress/facial hair code to be part of this community.
This was expected to be one of those over-packed, sold-out shows because English Dogs garnered huge turnouts in the past and played bigger venues, but it wasn’t quite the case, perhaps because of there being a separate show in Long Beach which kept the Long Beach/Orange County based punk and thrash kids from coming out to this Glendale show. Regardless, English Dogs were undeterred by it and entertained those that did turn up, to the fullest. If you want a proper, unadulterated dosage of crossover thrash, you don’t need to look beyond English Dogs.
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