Rotting Christ Show Review

I caught the Lucifer Over America tour last night with Rotting Christ, Immolation, Belphegor and Averse Sefira. This was my second metal show at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip. My first experience was the Radio Rebellion Tour with Gojira and Behemoth. And, while last night’s event didn’t sell out the house, the crowd was sizable — and we had a devil of a good time.

In my experience, this was your typical metal show — a lot of black, metal t-shirts, pentagrams, devil horns and helicopter hair. The turnout consisted mainly of guys. There were a few women, some looking androgenous in the circle pit, the rest off to the sides or upstairs.

Metal crowds are a lot of fun. In most cases, there is no scenester attitude — you’ll simply find good people congregating for love of the music. Don’t get me wrong, you can always count on a few assholes — and this show was no exception. Suffice it to say, a few were escorted from the building and some over-intoxicated chick became a nuisance for those on the floor.

First on the bill was Averse Sefira from Austin, Texas. They were the only band to wear corpse paint, but nothing too flashy. Averse Sefira is a talented group, but the music is not really my flavor. The vocals didn’t drive me to do anything beyond wonder how long their set would last — just a colorless monotone with less range than the Cookie Monster himself.

Next up was Belphegor, a black metal band from Austria. It seems the lot of the crowd was there for Belphegor, more than any other band on the bill. Their music is really fast-paced and has some good breakdowns. In the spirit of true black metal, Belphegor played under a dark stage.

Then came Immolation, from New York. Immolation truly shined when it came to talent. The music has some complicated changes and they were super tight. And what arresting stage presence — I’m impressed by how they maintained badass-itude, while engaging the crowd and showing appreciation for their fans.

Immolation, though they were a treat, would fit better on a death metal grindcore bill.

Lastly, and my favorite of the evening, was the Greek black metal band Rotting Christ. Rotting Christ let the music speak for itself and played on a simple stage, with no adornments. The show was flawless and they had an energetic stage presence. About half of the songs came from the new album, Theogonia. Remaining songs came from Genesis and Sanctus Diavolos. My personal favorites were “The Sign of Prime Creation” and “Keravnos Kivernitos,” from the new album.

As for the House of Blues, it’s one of the better venues in Los Angeles. The sound was a little muddy this time, which distracted from the detailed guitar solos, but it was still a decent show. We also watched from upstairs, so the sound might have been better on the floor.