The Whisky and The Rainbow - Two Venues in One Night on 1/24!

Apparently Thursday is the new Friday because there is way too much good shit happening on Thursdays lately!
I started off my Thursday evening metal adventure at The Whisky (yes, I'm there pretty often) to see Ascendancy play. If you haven't seen them before, I highly suggest you check them out. They're a local five piece that lays down some seriously heavy groove metal. It was a high energy show and I was stoked to see that there was a decent crowd there to support the band on a weeknight. Of course Ascendancy played a consistently bitchin' set but something hard to describe happened towards the end of the show that unleashed a mysterious untapped reservoir of thunderous energy on stage, giving the band a freakishly powerful finish! All of my hair stood on end! That was some good (but weird) shit, man!

Gus Trujillo on vocals.

Epic shred time.

Next, I wandered over to The Rainbow to check out Rattlehead and Desecrate for their pre-NAMM show.  Both bands are well known on the Sunset Strip for being excellent shredders and great performers.  This night was no different, even though everyone was crammed into the claustrophobically tiny upstairs space that The Rainbow has converted into a concert venue.  I imagine that's what it must feel like to be stuck in a tugboat's boiler room. Desecrate hammed it up by running circles around the smushed audience with their wireless rigs and Rattlehead had to do battle with a drunk girl who kept insisting on providing backup vocals.  Somehow, it all worked out!

The stage is actually below the audience space!

Rattlehead!

Be sure to look for Ascendancy, Desecrate and Rattlehead on Facebook or at their next concerts! The next event on my concert calendar is Ascendancy and Nekrogoblikon at Mirror Image Studios on 2/15.

Ascendancy, Legal Tender, Desecrate at The Whiskey on 11/17

Local metal bands took over The Whiskey last Friday, November 17th, for Desecrate's "At The Edge of Sanity" album release show. It's always great to see a bunch of local bands pack a venue with their fans. I think I even saw some parents in the audience!

Ascendancy started playing right as I walked through the doors. They had kind of a groove-thrash thing going on, in contrast to the typical thrash sound that has been revamped by a lot of bands lately. (When I describe something as groove metal, I'm saying it has a similar vibe to Carcass, not rap-rock or groovy 60's music.) The killer vocals were actually what stood out as best to me and that's not a compliment I give out very often. I grabbed a demo from Gus, their vocalist, after the set and told him I'll definitely be attending another Ascendancy show.

The next band I was there to see was Legal Tender. I saw them play recently at the Skeletonwitch/Havok show and this show was even better than the last one! These guys are great entertainers and I think they're gonna be the next big thing in the LA metal scene. Fingers crossed for them! I really liked their song "Street Walker". 

Desecrate was the last band to play and they took the stage with a tremendous amount of energy and stage presence.  For their last song they invited everyone on stage to celebrate with them. How rad is that!? I can never seem to remember my camera when I go out but I did manage to get a grainy shot on my phone. 

After their set was over, we all met up at the record store across the street for the Desecrate album release party. I got a chance to chat a bit with Vinny of Legal Tender and Gus of Ascendancy. They were both very cool guys.

Be sure to check everyone out on facebook:

Ascendancy
Legal Tender
Desecrate

The next events on my concert calendar are Eluveitie on 11/29 at The House of Blues, followed by Gypsyhawk and The Sword on 11/30 at The House of Blues.