Enslaved
March 6, 2015
El Rey Theatre- Los Angeles, CA
Norwegian progressive black metal veterans Enslaved and Eugene, Oregon doom metal band Yob embarked on a three week North American journey to present their latest albums along with Philadelphia’s Ecstatic Vision as the opening act. They made their second stop on tour at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California where fans of Enslaved and other European metal bands gathered to see the long-awaited headlining tour for one of Norway’s finest bands.
Yob released their seventh album, Clearing the Path to Ascend in 2014 and are out on tour to support it. The trio that makes up Yob came on stage to deliver their music to the people that were unfamiliar with them. Frontman Mike Scheidt handled vocals and guitar nicely while bassist Aaron Rieseberg played with a deep bass tone that gave the band their doom metal sound. Given that their songs are long, their setlist consisted of only three songs and not surprisingly, all three were from the new album. Although many people in attendance had never heard of the band, they still head banged to the motion of the music as if they approved of the band playing before them. As they left the stage, the crowd cheered for them as Yob knew that they had made themselves a ton of new fans.
Enslaved are no strangers to American metal fans so it’s no surprise that loyal fans of theirs gathered to this event and eagerly anticipated their return. Enslaved is set to release their newest album In Times on March 10 and Enslaved was more than ready to unleash their new music onto their loyal fan-base. The curtains opened and the band came out to a huge roar from the crowd as they opened with the first track from the new album, Thurisaz Dreaming. With both black metal and progressive metal elements in their music, Enslaved laid down their music with aggression and perfection as the fans were pleased to have this amazing band return. It was quite unusual seeing the crowd so calm and it wasn’t until the fifth song Ethica Odini that the crowd started to come alive and started moshing. Enslaved treated the Los Angeles crowd with their classic catalog ranging from all twelve previous albums and the upcoming thirteenth album. Songs like: Ruun, The Watcher, As Fire Swept Clean the Earth, Fenris, and Isa were praised among fans and there wasn’t a single dull moment when they played. Two other new songs Building With Fire and the album title track In Times made their way into the setlist and the crowd remained still as they listened to those songs for the first time. In between songs, the band members joked around with each other and singer/bassist Grutle Kjellson told jokes to the crowd as well as addressed them that this was the best LA show they’ve ever done. The crowd was more than happy to hear that and they cheered. As the show was coming to a close, Kjellson raised his hands signaling to fans if they knew what song was coming up and to no surprise, the crowd yelled out, “Isa!”. When Enslaved finished their show, a feeling of sadness could be felt among the crowd as they wanted a longer set and they definitely deserve it. Enslaved got together and bowed before their loyal fans as a gesture of appreciation before leaving the stage and waving goodbye. This is the start of the tour and if you see Enslaved coming to your town, this is a show to see even if you’ve never heard of them.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
Enslaves
Yob
