Live at The Avalon

Hollywood, California

April 02, 2010

Los Angeles and New York were the only locations for the U.S. shows by the mighty Immortal and both were sold out events. The fans here in Hollywood were chanting for Immortal as soon as they arrived but first, a relatively unheard of band, Lightning Swords of Death were given the honor of opening the night's affairs.

Dense smoke clouds drifted from the stage as the band appeared. Spikes and hair were the most notable features in the swirling mists.

The sound system had been tuned to Immortal so in other words, it was super loud. The guitar and bass assault by Lightning Swords of Death became a huge wall of sound enhanced by a blast-beat driven drum battery.

The vocalist was the only one not whipping lengthy hair around, but he was the one sporting the spikes, and a multitude of them too. His delivery was fairly static on stage, growling out a dense, distorted manifesto that was largely incoherent in terms of lyrics.

The singer did not address the crowd or speak. He seemed pretty serious about what he was singing about and a little tripped out too.

The two stringed instrument players moved around quite a bit. They seemed quite competent musicians and did a good job, especially seeing as how they were opening for legendary black metal icons like Immortal. The drummer did a great job for sure but I don't mind a bit of added symphonic touches in my Black Metal and these guys were a bit more of the old school sound.

I think they did a pretty good job but wish the vocals had been a little clearer in terms of being able to tell what he was singing about. The lead singer was adorned in pentagrams and evil imagery so it is safe to say that they do not stray too far from the expected darkness expelled by Black Metal bands.

By the time their set ended, the audience was more than ready to get on with the main event and were chanting "Immortal" while the band was still playing.

I can't blame them, Immortal rule, but I do not always envy the bands that have to open for Legends. On one hand, you get awesome exposure to new potential fans, on the other, you have to deal with said audience members' impatience for who they came to see and they are not always polite about having to wait.