Failure: Live at The Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA


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It has roughly 16 years since Failure had done a proper tour and seemed like the end of another 90s cult status band falling to the wayside. But fast forward to 2014, if they knew that reuniting would result in a sold out El Rey Theatre show and opening for both of Maynard James Keenan’s Cinquanta shows at the Greek Theatre, they timed it perfectly for a reunion.

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Tonight’s show was ironically frontman/guitarist/bassist Ken Andrews’ birthday with special fog and new songs for the fans who made it out. Tonight was part of their first North American tour in 16 years and the set spanned their catalog throughout their history.

 

The set opened with ‘Another Space Song’, which got the crowd on a roll. The trio of Andrews, multi-instrumentalist Greg Edwards and drummer Kellii Scott were on point from go and did not miss a beat. If you didn’t know they took the past 16 years off, there was nothing that hinted that at all.

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Other tunes like ‘Frogs’, ‘Saturday Saviour’ and ‘Wet Gravity’ gave the crowd an earful in the early portion. The second segue went into ‘Dirty Blue Balloons’, ‘Undone’, and ‘Pillowhead’, while the third segue was “The Nurse Who Loved Me” before they broke into an intermission.

 

The second half consisted of their heavier side of their discography, such as ‘Blank’ and ‘Solaris’, and even ‘Heliotrophic’. A new song called ‘The Focus’ was included in their encore, which they have been playing while on tour.

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Andrews and Edwards traded off instruments throughout the set and looked flawless how they interacted with each other. While they are not the most visually stimulating band on stage, their music strikes a chord with the crowd and they interacted with screams of various song titles throughout the show. And of course, ‘Bernie’ and ‘Solaris’ were the commonly requested ones that did come up in their set list.

 

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Failure proved that they are here to stay and possibly are bigger now than the first time around. Now with rumblings of a new album coming out sometime in 2015, the buzz will continue to grow and this will not be the last time we will be hearing from these guys.

 

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Failure Set List:

First Set:

Another Space Song

Frogs

Wet Gravity

Saturday Saviour

Sergeant Politeness

Segue 2

Dirty Blue Balloons

Undone

Pillowhead

Segue 3

The Nurse Who Loved Me

Second Set:

Blank

Solaris

Small Crimes

Smoking Umbrellas

Stuck on You

Heliotropic

Encore:

The Focus

Bernie

Magnified

Screen Man

Daylight

Failure on Facebook

 

WORDS BY REI NISHIMOTO

PHOTOS BY KALEY NELSON PHOTOGRAPHY

 


Devildriver – Whitechapel – Revocation – Carnifex: Live at the House of Blues W. Hollywood


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Multi-bands extreme metal touring packages have become a common theme in recent years, where fans get multiple bands on one bill for a set ticket price and exposing them to newer bands at the same time.

 

Early door time at 5:30 pm appeared to be a stretch as Fit For An Autopsy and Rivers of Nihil both got early call times and played to early birds who came down to catch their sets. Both put on strong sets of crunching deathcore meets death metal, rarely missing a step and giving the crowd a heedful at the same time. Not letting the light crowd affect them, the crowd got into their respective sets and set the pace for the night.


San Diego’s Carnifex has gotten their name around the metal circuit lately with their powerful blend of metallic hardcore-esque mannerisms with death metal style guitars and breakdowns that got the crowd into their sound. Vocalist Scott Lewis worked the room well and kept the tempo high and the energy even higher. Somehow their diverse sound helped them standout and win over new fans as well as well as people who were already into them.

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Revocation has already built a following with their unique blend of technical thrash with odd riffing styles, and energy that goes for hours. Guitarist/vocalist Dave Davidson doesn’t speak much to the crowd but his music does that talking. While their sound doesn’t fit the current wave of Djent riffing styles that has taken the metal world by storm, they found other ways to attract fans and beat them musically silly. The crowd definitely got into them immediately, and their high tempos got the mosh pits going throughout their set.

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The big return of Whitechapel was highly anticipated and this time as a co-headlining slot and a longer set time. They brought their trademark deathcore sound and gave the crowd the high energy show they are known for. They featured a good portion of songs from their latest record Our Endless War (Metal Blade), as well as spanning songs from their various releases. Frontman Phil Bozeman worked the crowd and got them moving throughout their whole set. While they have put on strong shows over the years, one small flaw that plagued the band tonight was that their sound did somewhat become a big monotonous and a longer set list made this stand out more than usual. Despite this hiccup, Whitechapel did put on a strong set and showed why they have been one of the bigger deathcore bands on the scene today.

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Devildriver came out swinging with their modern thrash metal stylings and took command upon starting. Frontman Dez Fafara came out with his old school mic stand and began barking at the crowd to keep up with the band’s momentum, in which they did. The mosh pits were going and the energy was high. They covered a good cross section of their catalog, including the ‘Sail’ cover which has become a staple part of their set list. They showed why they are still going six albums into their career and no signs of stopping any time soon.

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Devildriver Set List:

End of the Line

Head on to Heartache (Let Them Rot)

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Before the Hangman’s Noose

Gutted

I Could Care Less

The Appetite

Sail (Awolnation cover)

Hold Back the Day

Dead to Rights

Clouds Over California

Ruthless

Meet the Wretched

 

Devildriver on Facebook

Whitechapel on Facebook

Revocation on Facebook

Carnifex on Facebook

Rivers of Nihil on Facebook

Fit For An Autopsy on Facebook

 

 

WORDS BY REI NISHIMOTO

PHOTOS BY KALEY NELSON PHOTOGRAPHY