The Dread Crew Of Oddwood, Sirion & Helsott Battle The Heat In Glendale

By Andrew Bansal

September 14th 2014, Complex, Glendale CA: Coming towards the end of their month-long summer touring run, San Diego-based pirate-themed folk rock/metal group The Dread Crew Of Oddwood played a headline show at Complex in Glendale last night, with local support from Los Angeles melodic extreme metal six-piece band Sirion and Menifee CA’s pagan metal outfit Helsott, for a show put together by Daniel Dismal and Church Of The 8th Day. I’d never before witnessed The Dread Crew live but having heard plenty of interestingly positive things about them I was very much curious for my first experience of them here, and Sirion and Helsott, bands I’ve known and admired for the past few years, provided two more great reasons to attend this show, even though it turned out to be quite the ordeal for all involved.

Upon arriving at the venue at 9:30, I was greeted with the not-so-pleasant surprise that the air conditioning had broken down, and the already unpleasant heat of the evening was magnified further as it felt at least 20 degrees hotter standing inside. But, the bands and the audience soldiered on and indulged in what they’d come here to do, as Helsott started off the show at 9:45 with a 30-minute set of righteous pagan heavy music, including a brand new song called ‘The Healer’ which was in fact my favorite item of their set, as it came through with real conviction and wasn’t aided by any backing tracks. Since Helsott used to have a female singer/keyboard player in their ranks, all their older material was recorded with her and now sans this member and no replacement, they had no choice but to use backing tracks to perform that material. In all honesty, I would prefer them to add a sixth human to play these parts live, at least the female vocals if not the keyboards. But with that said, frontman Eric Dow’s powerful vocal delivery, intricate guitar work by David Walston and Mark Dow, and excellent rhythm fills by Mikey Muller (bass) and Cooper Dustman (drums) still made Helsott’s first LA show since Paganfest 2013 sufficiently enjoyable for the audience to stay indoors for the entirety of the set and not contemplate stepping out into the cooler outdoors.

Helsott links: website | facebook | twitter

Sirion came next and delivered their blend of melodic extreme metal and crab dances onto an audience which had grown in number to an extent. As always, vocalist Biko Wright and keyboardist Rob Rosen made it a point to step off the stage onto the floor while performing their parts and urge the crowd to get involved, only this time the vocalist journeyed all the way to the free water tap placed at the side of the bar to down several cups of water on each occasion and keep himself alive in this brutal heat. But as Sirion played song after song, I came to the realization that I was compelled to bang my head just in the same manner as in any other fully air-conditioned atmosphere and the heat certainly didn’t weigh on me while doing so, which not only went to prove the quality of this Sirion performance but in the bigger scheme of things, showed just how powerful good music really is.

Sirion links: website | facebook | twitter

And lastly, The Dread Crew Of Oddwood took the stage at around 11:30, attracting their horde of fans dressed as colorfully as the seven members on stage, females comprising the majority of their audience. They played a bunch of folky, dancy tunes that brought great delight to these people as many were seen dancing merrily and cheering all the way, but I quickly discovered that this band wasn’t my cup of tea, not even in the least bit. But if you’re a fan of the Renaissance Fair type of festivities, this band would be right up your alley and even though I couldn’t honestly appreciate what they were doing on this stage, I can certainly understand and respect their niché.

But on the whole, despite the heat, it was an enjoyable outing in a strangely unique manner of its own, as I’d never seen so much water being consumed at a show and it was indeed the best possible endorsement for the omnipresent elixir that is water, available free of cost here which sadly isn’t universally the case at all LA venues. This was also the first ever show where I considered taking my shirt off, but thankfully it didn’t come to that. But on a serious note, the air conditioning issue should not serve as a parameter for judging the quality of this venue in the eyes of the first timers, as with so many great rock and metal shows coming up here, I’m sure the folks at Complex are working diligently to solve the problem. Overall, a strange but fun night of silly metal!

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