By Andrew Bansal
September 9th 2015, The Roxy, West Hollywood CA: Swedish post/progressive rock band Cult Of Luna embarked on a short US headline tour this September, and concluded the nine-show run at the Roxy in West Hollywood last Wednesday September 9th 2015, for an event put together by Thief Presents. Support acts for the first four shows were Kylesa and InAeona, while Minsk and SubRosa opened the shows for the remainder of the tour. LA’s doom/post/stoner metal community came out in huge numbers to pack the venue and expected to be treated to a mesmerizing show from all three bands.
Doors opened at 7, and the show started promptly at 7:30 with Salt Lake City’s SubRosa bringing forth their unique brand of doomy, sludgy, psychedelia. Their five-piece lineup includes two violin players that lend layers of darkness and melancholy to enable the band to carry its own identity in the modern-day sea of doom. SubRosa build up beautifully with long quiet, mellow segments and transition excellently into much heavier ones, as the solitary guitar, the multiple vocal layers and the rhythm section together come into play. This crowd was in a completely captive state, and thoroughly enjoyed this 30-minute SubRosa performance. They participated in this year’s Psycho California festival in Orange County and clearly attracted some people from that event to attend this one, and whenever they return to the Los Angeles area as headliners, it will certainly be a sell-out. SubRosa turned out to be worthy openers and then some.
Shortly after, Minsk took the stage to deliver an eclectic 40-minute set of progressive, psychedelic, experimental heavy music with traces of doom, sludge, ambient and post-metal. The Chicago/Peoria, Illinois group has been in existence for more than a decade and has been winning accolades in the underground music realm for their live performances and studio releases, including the 2015 full-length effort ‘The Crash And The Draw’, but they have ventured out to the US West Coast only on the rare occasions. As a result, this was Metal Assault’s first experience of the Minsk live show, and will not be the last, because their set encapsulated all of their musical elements and showcased the five members’ individual and collective talents in an incredibly compelling manner. Their hometown is known and revered for its musical pedigree and Minsk is only enhancing its reputation further with such exhibitions of experimental expertise. From clean to extreme vocals and guitar/keyboard melodies to crushing riffs, they brought it all. The Roxy proved to be the perfect sonic and visual setting for this Minsk show, and attendees should consider themselves fortunate to have been witness to this performance. To accurately describe Minsk to a person who has not heard their music is a herculean task in itself, but for that person to be brainwashed by the band’s live show is equally straightforward.
And as for Cult Of Luna, I am not a fan of the band in the slightest, so it would have been unfair to review their set with such a bias against them, and hence I swiftly left the building. But you can watch Arturo Gallegos’ video of the first 15 minutes of the set below, and check out his YouTube channel for videos of Minsk and SubRosa as well as coverage of hundreds of metal shows from the LA area.
Overall, a pleasant outing at a not-so-strictly metal show at the Roxy, made worthwhile by Minsk and SubRosa.