Combichrist and Dope
April 9, 2017
Regent Theater- Los Angeles, CA
Industrial metal giants Combichrist and Dope teamed up for the Blood, Lust, and Death tour. Along with them, they brought September Mourning and Davey Suicide. All four bands would prove to be a great package for fans of industrial metal and nu-metal. The historic Regent Theater in Los Angeles would be the venue of choice on a Sunday night.
Nu-metal/industrial metal veterans Dope released their sixth studio album Blood Money Part 1 in October 2016. A good amount of fans were seen sporting their merch so you could tell plenty of their fans were in attendance. Dope came out and started the show with Violence from their previous No regrets album from 2009. The band was dressed in classic nu-metal and industrial metal style. The band had a nice stage setup with screens in the background and fog cannons that the band would put their faces in just for good measure. The second song played was Blood Money from the newest album followed by 6-6-Sick. The crowd remained calm for the whole show which was a bit unusual for a metal band. Dope played some of their more popular songs like Addiction where the crowd loved singing along to the chorus, “She’s like cocaine, heroin, alcohol, Vicodin. She’s my Addiction!”. Dope has also made a couple of covers that made it big in the charts and they were more than happy to play them live. The first cover played live was You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) as made famous by the 80’s new wave band, Dead or Alive. The next cover played was Rebel Yell as made famous by Billy Idol which is a song that anyone that’s alive should know. To finish the show, Dope played the song 1999 which frontman Edsel Dope made note that this is also the same year that the band released their debut album. Dope left the stage and fans cheered for their performance and were now ready for the headlining band of the night.
Combichrist is one of the more popular industrial metal and electro-industrial bands. To give an idea what industrial metal is, imagine a metal band performing, but with electronic and keyboard sounds in the background almost as if you’re at a rave with metal bands performing. Combichrist came out and one of the first things you’ll notice is how the band has both a drummer and a percussionist to add to the live performance. Drummer Joe Letz handed one of his floor tom drums to an audience member while he played the drum intro to one of the band’s signature song, What the Fuck Is Wrong with You?. The band has a very energetic vibe to their music and will make you want to dance with their style of electronic body music. The audience loved singing along to the chorus, “Hey! You! What the Fuck Is Wrong with You?”. The second song played was Blut Royale followed by Skullcrusher. Fans will quickly noticed how much of a wild-man drummer Joe Letz is on the drums. He practically destroyed his drum kit on stage as he played. He had two floor toms next to him and would regularly toss one of them onto the floor only to have a roadie place it back where it belongs, to then have it thrown back to the ground just minutes later. Letz would also pour water onto his floor toms and hit them to make water splash up in the air. Along with his pink wig and face covered with black paint, he made for a very interesting character to see live. Combichrist kept their live energy going as they played songs from their catalog which included: Throat Full of Glass, Zombie Fistfight, Get Your Body Beat, and Shut Up and Swallow. Fog cannons, mosh pits, and a crazy light show kept the band from having a stale performance as everyone was having so much fun during the show. The show had to come to an end and the band chose Sent to Destroy as their finisher. Percussionist Nick Rossi put on a life jacket and dove into the audience to do some crowd surfing and to have the performance go out with a bang. The show ended and the audience was very satisfied with the performance and was a great way to end a Sunday.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
Combichrist
Dope
