Into The Oblivion Tour Crushes The YouTube Theater On April 4th
All Live Photos By Shane Lee/@vulgardisplayofgaming_
Band Photo Credit: Travis Shinn
Making a stop in Los Angeles for the Tour promoting their new album ‘Into Oblivion’ (Check out our review HERE: https://knac.com/albumreview-lambofgod-intooblivion/) LAMB OF GOD laid out a devastating set, playing all the hits, cuts from their new album and some deep cuts that had not been played in a while. On this trek was FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY, KUBLAI KHAN and a band that has garnered a lot of attention in a short amount of time, SANGUISUGABOGG.
Starting off the night was a group that has had a lot of hype about them and a deserved, growing following by jumping on the right tours with other larger names as well as having a good run of headlining tours, the Death Metal outfit known as SANGUISUGABOGG from Ohio brought out the crowd early and easily brought up the energy to an already amped crowd. Many showed up early (even after the short notice change in start time by venue management). Surprising to discover that (at the time wasn’t known that he is now FORMER) SUFFOCATION drummer Eric Morroti, was behind the kit for the band who came out guns blazing for their half-hour set that was only 5 songs and included cuts from ‘Homicidal Ecstasy’, ‘Tortured Whole’ and last year’s release ‘Hideous Aftermath’ which made up a majority of their set that they obviously wanted to show off. Again, straight and to the point making an excellent impression on those familiar with the band and those new to these up and comers.
Next up for what was to be a double-Deathcore sandwich was FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY. The 5 piece from Jersey brought their chugga-chuggas strong for the next half hour playing 7 songs from ‘Oh What the Future Holds’, ‘The Nothing That Is’, ‘Others’ and ‘The Sea of Tragic Beasts’. There was a bit of a stir in the pit but it was clear this wasn’t the karate-pit crowd that core is typically guilty of enabling. The other part of the ‘core sandwich was KUBLAI KHAN (TX) from the Lonestar state who piledrived through 12 songs from their 5 albums through 16 years of existence. With the crowd only giving back the energy the band was giving off, these 2 settled things down a little to make the headliners pop off big.
Now I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve caught LAMB OF GOD through the years. The band that was practically ruined for me back in the early days and fast forward over a decade later to get one of their song lyrics tattooed on my chest. Dubbed as leaders of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal and once called the New Cowboys From Hell, Richmond Virginia’s best opened up their 15-song set with ‘Ruin’ and that got the crowd in karaoke mode, singing to the rafters and would do so all night. With a shoutout dedication to Bo Lueders of Harm’s Way who took his life a couple of weeks ago, this led into the song, a crowd favorite as well as mine, “Walk With Me In Hell”. With the tour promoting their new album ‘Into Oblivion’, we got a taste of some of that with the title track, ‘Parasocial Christ’ and ‘Sepsis’. Other albums they’d touch on were ‘Ashes Of The Wake’, ‘Sacrament’, ‘Wrath’, ‘Resolution’, ‘VII: Sturm und Drang’ and their self-titled as well. Giving all the staples many hoped to hear like “11th Hour”, “Laid To Rest”, “Memento Mori”, and some deep cuts like “Blood Junkie” and a touch of “Grace”, then closing things out with “Redneck”.
Although a large and highly energetic pit the whole show, the standing-room only section was not jam packed, given the large venue that it is with a high balcony, it was perhaps TOO big for a band like LoG and its crowd who likes to be crammed into a better, general admission venue (like say, the Hollywood Palladium). Nevertheless, with the bands on point, the sound was overall great (although I really did wish they would have put some more focus on Art Cruz’ and the newly re-released Z-Custom cymbals from ZILDJIAN). From the Youtube Theater cameras showing love and the crowd all night, you could see the raging good time everyone was having. The show, the crowd and everything about it was a reminder that although there are dark times where we do feel alone with no way out, we’re never alone in our Metal community and all you have to do is reach out or at least realize that you have others reaching out to you. More Me(n)tal health awareness needs to be had to see who “truly see who gives a f*ck!”
SANGUISUGABOGG
KUBLAI KHAN
FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY
LAMB OF GOD
