Sonic Annihilation: Cobalt Brings ‘Slow Forever’ Tour To Los Angeles

By Andrew Bansal

20160904_200239 (1)

September 4th 2016, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Coming together to form one of the most devastating two-band touring lineups of the year, Colorado group Cobalt and German duo Mantar embarked on a North American tour in September 2016 for a three-week skull-crushing campaign, and arrived in Los Angeles last Sunday September 4th for a show at the Viper Room. Put together by Church Of The 8th Day, as almost all great underground shows are, the gig also featured Wire Werewolves as the local opener. This was no typical Sunday evening on the Sunset Strip as the Labor Day weekend was in full force and parties were swarming in every bar and club in the area, but for the LA underground music community, the Viper Room was where the real party was happening, and a queue of ticket holders formed outside even before the doors opened.

Starting the show at 9 PM was LA avant-garde duo Wire Werewolves, presenting an intriguing blend of apocalyptic industrial sounds and ominous black/death metal riffs. Between the two members stood an old-fashioned CRT TV which displayed visual patterns to accompany the music. This group has been around for at least 11 years and has quite a few releases to their name, but here they were performing to a crowd of first-timers and succeeded in creating a positive impression. Industrial/experimental/electronic music has certainly found its way into the underground metal world in recent times, and Wire Werewolves proved themselves to be worthy proponents of it with their undeniably interesting concept.

Wire Werewolves
Wire Werewolves

Next up, German duo Mantar took the stage for their brand of raw, doomy, sludgy black metal. Mantar participated in the Psycho Las Vegas festival the previous weekend and impressed a lot of people there, and seemed to have attracted a sizable section of the audience here solely by themselves. As is the norm in LA, most people come to shows only to see one band, and the most popular question asked around amongst any audience is “Which band are you here to see?” At this show, Mantar was that one band for many people, and the Viper Room was most crowded during their set. The band put on a high-intensity exhibition of unadulterated heaviness, as the duo of vocalist/guitarist Hanno and drummer/vocalist Erinc gave it their all.

The set was slightly marred because of Hanno’s vocals not nearly being loud enough in the mix, and when such an imbalance in the mix is clearly evident to the audience, it’s easy to blame the sound engineer at the venue, but it may not be their fault. Some sound guys claim that metal bands are hardest to work with out of all genres as they turn up their instruments too much. In Mantar’s case, only the band and the sound guy would know the truth. But it only fired up Hanno more to put on an even stronger show than normal, and he sure did. Mantar recently got signed to Nuclear Blast and released their second full-length and label debut ‘Ode To The Flame’ earlier this year. Their crushing slow jams were intertwined with fast, punk-laden segments and altogether made for a highly enjoyable set for this crowd. Being a band for less than 4 years, Mantar have already developed a strong fan base here and look well-poised to get more popular at a rapid rate.

Mantar
Mantar

As expected, the Mantar crowd departed, but the Viper Room was still decently populated for the true headliners of the show, Denver, Colorado based extreme metal group Cobalt. Comprising two main members Charlie Fell on vocals and Erik Wunder on drums, vocals, bass and guitars, Cobalt performs live as a four-piece band with Wunder playing drums, and as great as two-piece bands can be, this Cobalt set really showcased the sheer sonic power of an obliterating four-man ensemble, something a two-piece attempting to play a similar style of music cannot really match. Cobalt built up the tension with the first song of the set as Charlie Fell stood with his back facing the crowd, motioning his arms as if he was ready to explode, which he indeed did once he turned around. The combined onslaught of the guitar riffs, bass lines and drum parts was nothing less than earthshaking, and the vocalist’s highly expressive delivery formed the perfect layer on top of it all. There’s something in the Colorado air that produces such powerful doom/extreme metal bands, as being proven by the likes of Primitive Man, Wayfarer, Vermin Womb and many others, and Cobalt have been a part of it since 2003. As evident from their brilliantly crafted 2016 Profound Lore full-length release ‘Slow Forever’ as well as from performances of this nature, they’re getting bleaker and angrier as they’re moving forward, and them being as incredibly destructive as they are now only makes the mind boggle imagining how much better they can get in the future.

Cobalt
Cobalt

The set was annihilating on the whole, but reached its peak when Charles Fell took his shirt off, rubbed black paint all over himself, started grabbing people from the audience, and brought some black metal showmanship to add to the havoc being inflicted by his band mates on their respective instruments. This Cobalt set was rewarding for those that decided to stay, and was an apt way to close out this show as one couldn’t possibly fathom or comprehend the possibility of anyone being able to follow such a performance by Cobalt.

All in all, Cobalt and Mantar are combining to deliver a show of unmatchable intensity, and fans of underground heavy music would be well-served to experience it.

We’re doing a ticket giveaway for each stop on the tour! Enter here for a show near you.

If you like what you’ve read, subscribe to our newsletter, and support Metal Assault and buy a shirt!

Remaining Tour Dates:
09/07/2016 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
09/09/2016 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Fest *
09/10/2016 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
09/11/2016 – Nashville, TN @ The East Room
09/13/2016 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Smiling Moose
09/14/2016 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
09/15/2016 – Washington, DC @ DC9 *+
09/16/2016 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
09/18/2016 – Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus
09/19/2016 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
09/20/2016 – Detroit, MI @ Corktown Tavern
09/21/2016 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
09/22/2016 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
09/23/2016 – Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room
09/24/2016 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
* = Cobalt only
+ = w/ Wolves In The Throne Room

Comments

comments