{"id":2909,"date":"2014-03-02T10:59:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T18:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/?p=2909"},"modified":"2014-03-11T08:44:37","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T15:44:37","slug":"children-of-bodom-death-angel-tyr-rock-sold-out-house-of-blues-sunset-strip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/2014\/03\/02\/children-of-bodom-death-angel-tyr-rock-sold-out-house-of-blues-sunset-strip\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Of Bodom, Death Angel & Tyr Rock Sold-Out House Of Blues Sunset Strip"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Bansal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

March 1st 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: <\/strong>Longstanding\u00a0Finnish melodic death metal quintet Children Of Bodom have made somewhat of a habit of touring North America on a regular basis, owing to their consistently strong fan base in these parts, and following an appearance on last year’s Mayhem Festival tour, they’ve returned with a full headline tour of their own, with support acts Death Angel and Tyr. After two weeks in Canada and moving through Seattle and San Francisco, the touring party made its way to Los Angeles to play at a sold-out House Of Blues Sunset Strip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even as early at 5:30 PM, there was a long line of fans waiting outside the venue, and this line rapidly grew in length as the evening progressed, which was pleasantly surprising considering the treacherous rain in the Los Angeles skies on this ominously gloomy Saturday. The weather did not deter these fans from turning up for the show in huge numbers. Some of them had bought tickets well in advance and were so excited for this event that they were waiting for it at the venue since 9:30 in the morning. The line wrapped all the way around the venue and stretched down Sunset Boulevard, and soon after doors opened at 7 PM, this House Of Blues was packed to capacity with metalheads anticipating a great show.<\/p>\n

Tyr<\/strong>, a folk\/pagan metal band from the Faroe Islands, hit the stage promptly at 8 o’ clock and played a short 25-minute set to start the show and get this crowd warmed up. This band seemed to have drawn quite a lot of their own fans to this show, as was evident from the great response they were getting to each of the five songs they played. It was my first time seeing them and while they weren’t mind-blowing by any means, they were far better than most of the newer so-called folk ‘metal’ bands that have popped up\u00a0in recent times to ride the popularity wave of the sub-genre. I’d give credit to Tyr for focussing on the music alone and not relying on any kind of visual shtick, lead guitarist\u00a0Terji Skiben\u00e6s in particular laying down some impressive solos and combining well with frontman Heri Joensen and bassist\u00a0Gunnar Thomsen both instrumentally and vocally. Terji’s guitar tone for the leads and solos closely replicated a symphonic sound and showed why the band doesn’t require a keyboardist. Tyr certainly turned out to be a good opening act for this lineup, and people attending any of the upcoming shows on the tour should turn up early enough to give Tyr a try.<\/p>\n

Visit Tyr on the web:<\/strong>
\nTyr.fo<\/a><\/strong>
\nfacebook.com\/TyrBand<\/a><\/strong>
\ntwitter.com\/TyrBand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Set List:<\/strong>
\n01. Hold The Heathen Hammer High
\n02. Blood Of Heroes
\n03. Mare Of My Night
\n04. Lady Of The Slain
\n05. Shadow Of The Swastika<\/p>\n

Following a 15-minute intermission, San Francisco Bay Area thrashers Death Angel <\/strong>took the stage to do what they do best, decimating the audience with a live performance that carried the crushing force of a ten ton hammer. Their 45-minute set comprised a large chunk of their stellar latest album ‘The Dream Calls For Blood’ with as many as five tunes off of it, starting all guns blazing with its first two tracks ‘Left For Dead’ and ‘Son Of The Morning’, then revisiting the previous album ‘Relentless Retribution’ for ‘Claws In So Deep’ which always has been and will be an awesome live song, and following that with three more new songs before ending it old-school with ‘Mistress Of Pain’ and ‘Thrown To The Wolves’. As a support act, Death Angel gave these people a perfect dose of their discography within this 45-minute time frame and the set list was extremely well-chosen, not only satisfying the die-hard fans who were in the minority here, but also giving a good representation of themselves to Children Of Bodom fans, most of whom seemed unfamiliar with Death Angel but their response towards the band got better through the set and the mosh pits reached full speed during the old songs. The early era will always be heralded as ‘classic’ by Death Angel fans, but I feel that their last four years have been their best, and during this time they’ve not only put on great live shows but also made the right decisions and done the right tours. This tour with Children Of Bodom looks like another positive step for the Bay Area veterans, and they’re poised to broaden their outreach to win several new fans over the next four weeks.<\/p>\n

Related: A Candid Conversation With Death Angel Drummer Will Carroll<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit Death Angel on the web:<\/strong>
\nDeathAngel.us<\/a><\/strong>
\nfacebook.com\/DeathAngel<\/a><\/strong>
\ntwitter.com\/DeathAngel<\/a><\/strong>
\ninstagram.com\/DeathAngelOfficial<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Set List:<\/strong>
\n01. Left For Dead
\n02. Son Of The Morning
\n03. Claws In So Deep
\n04. Succubus
\n05. Execution\/Don’t Save Me
\n06. The Dream Calls for Blood
\n07. Mistress Of Pain
\n08. The Ultra Violence Intro\/Thrown To The Wolves<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And lastly at 10 PM, all was in readiness for Children Of Bodom<\/strong> to stamp their authority on this stage. One of the challenges faced by bands touring North America regularly is the set list selection, which requires to be kept fresh and different for the sake of fans that see the band every time they come to town. It’s great to see that Children Of Bodom have successfully managed to achieve that on this tour by bringing forth an excellently compiled set of songs that encapsulates the band’s two-decade long career and ensures fans’ enjoyment from start to finish.<\/p>\n

Quite a few of the overplayed staples were dropped from the set, and there was a touch of freshness in the ordering of songs as well, with the anthemic ‘Hate Crew Deathroll’ coming in surprisingly early as the sixth song of the set. Children Of Bodom delved deep into their catalog to dust off tunes like ‘Lake Bodom’, ‘Kissing The Shadows’ and ‘Towards Dead End’ which were gleefully welcomed by this packed crowd with raised horns and banging heads. Critics often cite Children Of Bodom as a band that’s on-and-off with the quality of their live shows, but on this occasion they were very much on top of their game, nailing just about every single note they played and doing great justice in particular to the rarities in the set. Frontman Alexi Laiho playing the ESP flying-V positioned on his left knee with his head tilted towards the instrument has become somewhat of an iconic sight in modern metal, and Laiho put on a delightfully good performance last night, specially on the guitar. His flawless rendition of the scorching riffs and solos on songs like ‘Lake Bodom’ was in itself sufficient to send chills down the spines of the fans present at this show. Vocally he largely kept up with the demands of each song, and even though he was clearly intoxicated, he was very much coherent in his musicianship.<\/p>\n

Laiho’s four band mates also fulfilled their duties excellently, with keyboardist Janne Wirman at his brilliant best in his duels and harmonies with Laiho, and also injecting some subtle visual humor with the shirt he was wearing, displaying the word ‘Taco’ in the AC\/DC style font. Besides the older material which the fans loved every minute of, Children Of Bodom also threw some light on their latest album ‘Halo Of Blood’ which showcased a darker, more mature and wintery vibe in comparison to the thrashier, more angsty tunes of the early years. ‘Dead Man’s Hand On You’ from this new album was by far the slowest song of the set and brought forth a different facet of Bodom’s musicianship. Then of course some of the typical Bodom ‘classics’ were also played, as they ended the night with ‘Hate Me!’, ‘Downfall’ and an encore performance of ‘In Your Face’.<\/p>\n

Overall, this was arguably the best Children Of Bodom show Los Angeles has seen, at least in recent times, and even for people who might feel jaded towards Bodom simply because of the number of times they’ve seen them, this tour is worth attending because Bodom have chosen a brilliant set list, and more importantly, are doing a great job executing it on stage. For new fans and people who’ve never seen the band, this is an ideal first experience, and for longtime fans it’s a reaffirmation of faith in every sense.<\/p>\n

Interview with\u00a0Henkka Sepp\u00e4l\u00e4\u00a0coming soon<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit Children Of Bodom on the web:<\/strong>
\nCOBHC.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nfacebook.com\/ChildrenOfBodom<\/a><\/strong>
\ntwitter.com\/COBHC<\/a><\/strong>
\ninstagram.com\/COBHC<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set List:<\/strong>
\n01. Sixpounder
\n02. Living Dead Beat
\n03. Bodom Beach Terror
\n04. Halo Of Blood
\n05. Scream For Silence
\n06. Hate Crew Deathroll
\n07. Lake Bodom
\n08. Kissing The Shadows
\n09. Dead Man’s Hand on You
\n10. Are You Dead Yet?
\n11. Blooddrunk
\n12. Every Time I Die
\n13. Towards Dead End
\n14. Hate Me!
\n15. Downfall
\nEncore:<\/em>
\n16. In Your Face<\/p>\n

Remaining Tour Dates:<\/strong>
\n3\/02 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
\n3\/03 – \u00a0Phoenix, AZ\u00a0–\u00a0Club Red
\n3\/05 – Salt Lake City, UT\u00a0–\u00a0The Murray Theater
\n3\/06 – Denver, CO\u00a0–\u00a0Summit Theater
\n3\/07 – Albuquerque, NM\u00a0–\u00a0Sunshine Theater
\n3\/08 – El Paso, TX\u00a0–\u00a0Tricky Falls
\n3\/10 – San Antonio, TX\u00a0–\u00a0Backstage Live
\n3\/11 – Dallas, TX\u00a0–\u00a0House of Blues
\n3\/12 – Houston, TX\u00a0–\u00a0House of Blues
\n3\/14 – Atlanta, GA\u00a0–\u00a0Masquerade
\n3\/15 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL\u00a0–\u00a0Revolution
\n3\/16 – Tampa, FL\u00a0–\u00a0The Ritz Ybor
\n3\/18 – Asheville, NC\u00a0–\u00a0Orange Peel
\n3\/19 – Charlotte, NC\u00a0–\u00a0The Fillmore
\n3\/21 – Silver Spring, MD\u00a0–\u00a0The Fillmore
\n3\/22 – Philadelphia, PA\u00a0–\u00a0Theatre of Living Arts
\n3\/23 – Cleveland, OH\u00a0–\u00a0House of Blues
\n3\/24 – Detroit, MI\u00a0–\u00a0St. Andrews Hall
\n3\/25 – Chicago, IL\u00a0–\u00a0House of Blues
\n3\/27 – Boston, MA\u00a0–\u00a0Paradise Rock Club
\n3\/28 – New York, NY\u00a0–\u00a0Irving Plaza
\n3\/29 – \u00a0New York, NY\u00a0–\u00a0Irving Plaza<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Bansal March 1st 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: Longstanding\u00a0Finnish melodic death metal quintet Children Of Bodom have made somewhat of a habit of touring North America on a regular basis, owing to their consistently strong fan base in these parts, and following an appearance on last year’s Mayhem Festival … <\/p>\n

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