Fleshgod Apocalypse & Carach Angren
February 22, 2016
Whisky A Go-Go- Los Angeles, CA
Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren made their way to US soil for the second time in their career. For almost all people attending this show, this was their first time seeing Carach Angren. In February 2015, Carach Angren released their fourth album This Is No Fairytale and have since then been actively touring for it and finally made a US tour that fans have been craving for. At 10pm, drummer Ivo “Namtar” Wijers made his way to his drum kit and hovered above it as he leered upon the sold out Hollywood crowd and by doing just that, sent the crowd into a mighty roar as they were finally getting a taste of live Carach Angren. Touring guitarist Diogo “Yogi” Bastos and keyboardist Clemens “Ardek” Wijers made their way to the stage as well and were greeted by fans as they did to Namtar. Frontman Dennis “Seregor” Droomers eventually made his way to the stage while the intro track from the newest album Once Upon A Time… played in the background. All four members now on stage with corpse paint in true black metal style. The first song which was also the first track from the newest album titled There’s No Place Like Home began the set. Ardek began the song with the orchestral intro and not too long after, Seregor stood in the middle of the floor and let out a deep black metal growl. He then made his way to the front of the stage amongst fans up front and let out a black metal scream while making a grotesque facial expression to add to the horror of their music. Fans were so pumped for the music that moshing and shoving immediately commenced. Seregor started the not-so fairytale Hansel and Gretel track with the lyric, “Once Upon A Time, there stood a house ill of fame. A drug property associated with violence and crime. There lived a family in despair, sorrow and tragedy”. You could tell the fans were absolutely excited for Carach Angren to be performing as the floor was very active with crazy fans.
The songs The Sighting is a Portent of Doom and Lingering in an Imprint Haunting followed after the first song and only seemed to drive fans crazier as they played their hits to precision and sounding just like the album. The fourth song played was another song from the newest album titled When Crows Tick on Windows and is a favorite among fans. The highlight of the song is when Seregor seems to go into a sad mode when he sings the lyric, “No, she is dead…she is dead. Mother is dead. Noooo!” Fans could be heard singing along to the song. With the band’s previous visit to San Francisco, Seregor wanted to know if the Hollywood crowd was just as crazy. He had the floor split in two for a wall of death while they started The Carriage Wheel Murder and once he gave the signal, the crowd crashed into each other which is always an impressive sight yet hurts to even look at. Carach Angren kept playing hits like Spectral Infantry Battalions, Bitt Totet Mich, and Two Flies Flew Into a Black Sugar Cobweb. Seregor had to announce that the next song was unfortunately the last song, but not too worry because they’ll be back again soon. Carach Angren finished their short set with Bloodstains on the Captain’s Log from their second album, Death Came Through a Phantom Ship. The crowd continued to impress with non-stop moshing and screaming. Carach Angren finished and left the stage to have their corpse paint re-applied and always stick around after the show at their merch booth for photos and signatures for fans.
Death metal band and maestros of metal Fleshgod Apocalypse released their fourth album King on February 5th, 2016. They hail from Puragia, Italy. Even though the band is still relatively new, they have gained their following of fans thanks to their 
music. The lights went off from the stage as female opera vocalist Veronica Bordacchini came out to the stage with a king’s staff and walked around the stage. Soon after, the band members made their way to the stage wearing musical maestro outfits and took their places on stage as the intro track to the new album March Royale started and then launched into the the first track from the new album called, In Aeternum. Frontman Tommaso Riccardi would shred on the guitar while performing his death metal screams and growls. Bordacchini would lend her opera vocals either using her own lines, or following Riccardi in a duet.
For the third song Fleshgod Apocalypse went back to their previous Labyrinth album and played Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon). Fans were still not tired and continued to mosh even with the small space that the Whisky A Go Go offered. Fleshgod Apocalypse loves headbanging to their music and quite often you could see them gather together and head bang in unison. Fleshgod Apocalypse showed their amazing musicianship as they played tracks from their catalog such as: The Deceit, Pathfinder, and Requiem In Si Monroe. Riccardi took a quick break to thank the crowd for coming out and if they’ve heard of their new album called King. Many people in attendance cheered and then Riccardi told everyone that this next song is from that new album and it’s called, The Fool! Fans seemed to enjoy this new song and would raise their horns or head bang along to the song. The next two songs were Prologue and Epilogue from the Labyrinth album. Prologue is an instrumental track and Epilogue is special because it allows Bordacchini to come center stage and take lead opera vocals so she has a chance to shine. The Egoism was next as the band went back to delivering death metal to the audience. The band took a quick break because that day was a special occasion for bassist Paolo Rossi. It was his birthday! So to celebrate, a piece of cake with a candle was brought out while Riccardi had the audience sing Happy Birthday to him. The band played what was to be the last song of the night, The Violation. The band left the stage as if to be done. However, the crowd wasn’t ready to go home just yet. They stayed behind and cheered while yelling out, “Fleshgod! Fleshgod! Fleshgod!”. After a little while, the band came out to play the first encore of the night. They announced that they were going back to their debut Oracles album and playing the first track from it, In Honour Of Reason. Fans were happy to have them back on stage and continued moshing or watching in awe. The show had to come to an end and for this occasion, Fleshgod Apocalypse picked what is their best song, The Forsaking. The song is simply beautiful to listen to. One minute it’s straight up death metal, then the next you’re listening to Riccardi and Bordacchini sing together in a mash up of death metal growls and opera singing. Fleshgod Apocalypse finished to a very happy crowd, threw drumsticks and picks into crowd, shook hands with fans, then left the stage. Both Carach Angren and Fleshgod Apocalypse are still new to the metal scene, but will no doubt rise to higher ranks.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
Fleshgod Apocalypse
Carach Angren
