Children of Bodom with Black Dahlia Murder and Skeletonwitch

Children of Bodom with Black Dahlia Murder and Skeletonwitch
Date: 10/10/09
Place: Glass House, Pomona, CA
Review by ~ Aniruddh (Andrew) Bansal

Skeletonwitch, a band from Ohio, got the show going at 8 o clock with their blend of melodic black and thrash metal. I have seen this band in a headline show before and they were awesome that time. They didn't disappoint any of their fans this time either. I really love this genre of music as its heavy and sweet at the same time. Sometimes black metal bands pull off too many gimmicks and forget about the real thing, the music. Skeletonwitch are definitely about the music in my opinion. I really love their song Upon Wings of Black, especially the last minute of that song which is pure awesomeness. They thanked the crowd for coming out early and closed their set at 8.30. I wish this band great success in their upcoming endeavors. I couldn't place their first two songs, but here's the rest of their set list:

Upon Wings of Black
Crushed Beyond Dust
Beyond the Permafrost
Submit to the Suffering
Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
Within My Blood

The next band Black Dahlia Murder hit the stage at 8.45. For those of you who don't know, this is a metalcore band from Michigan. I did like a few of their songs like Statutory Ape, Miasma and Everything Went Black, but largely, I didn't like their overall sound and the general vibe in the crowd. It was just too 'hardcore' for my taste, if you know what I mean. But, they are definitely a talented band and their music is miles ahead of any of the 'pure' hardcore opening bands I had the misfortune of seeing in past shows. Its just that I found it too hard to sustain myself in the front row with a crowd that was going apeshit during their set. But somehow I did, and here's their complete set list. They closed their set after 45 minutes at around 9.30.

1. Everything Went Black
2. Black Valor
3. Closed Casket Requiem
4. Necropolis
5. A Vulgar Picture
6. What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse
7. Christ Deformed
8. Statutory Ape
9. Miasma
10. Unhallowed/Funeral Thirst

After these decent openers it was time to wait for Bodom to hit the stage. They came on stage at 10 with the opening song Living Dead Beat and it was time to literally go wild with excitement! This is a band whom I really love and it's a pleasure for me to be able to write this review for them. They followed the brutal opener with a song off of the latest album Blooddrunk, Hellbounds On My Trail. Its one of the better songs on an album which isn't rated as highly as the older Bodom albums. Next came on the most amazing songs of theirs, Silent Night Bodom Night. It gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it, and it was even better seeing it live! I've seen Bodom before. They were on top form on one of those, not so good on the others. This time I can safely say that it was better than all those previous shows!! When this band is belting out their stuff in a live performance, I can't think of too many other bands who can match them in aggression, intensity and accuracy.

They continued with a couple more brutal songs like Hate Me and Follow The Reaper. After that Alexi Laiho asked us if we would like to hear anything off of the Something Wild album, to which all of us shouted 'Yes!!' They obliged by playing the awesome song Lake Bodom. The band were getting better with their performance with every song, and it showed in the next song Bodom After Midnight. This was a perfect set list so far. I have heard plenty of fans complain about Bodom's set lists and I hope at least this one will keep them happy. Alexi was really shredding that ESP guitar of his on this song. Being directly in front of Alexi was a major thrill for me, as this was the first time I got on the rail and so close to the stage at a show headlined by Children of Bodom. It was an immense pleasure meeting him before the show as he is one of my favorite guitarists and some of his sweeping techniques are just mind blowingly good, showing what a talented musician he really is.

They did the title track of the Are You Dead Yet album next. I've noticed that this album has become more popular now than it was around its release in 2005. All of us were thoroughly enjoying this song as much as we did for the previous songs in the set. Another title song Blooddrunk was played after this. I really liked Janne Wirman's keyboard parts in this one. He is a great live performer and in my opinion, along with Alexi he is the driving force of the band's stage show. Then it was time for one of the slower and heavier tunes Angels Don't Kill. Alexi started this song with his customary water-spitting explosion. He is one guy who knows how to get a crowd excited and crazy. They played my favorite song from the Are You Dead Yet album next, In Your Face. We were all waiting for this song because of its chorus 'I don't give a flying fuck motherfucker!' Now who wouldn't want to sing that!! Every single person in the crowd was participating loudly in this one. I really hope that this song never leaves the Bodom set. It's one of their best live songs.

They changed up the set a little bit for the next song as compared to the set lists I've seen from earlier shows on this North American tour. They brought out the deadly song Sixpounder!! We were excited to hear this one! There was some furious head banging and moshing in the crowd. Next came the best Bodom song Downfall. I went so crazy on this one that I never realized I was head banging so hard that my ear plugs flew out! I loved the guitar riffs, solos, the keyboard parts and the double bass drums on this one more than any other song of theirs. The slow keyboard interlude was accompanied by loud clapping and cheers by the whole crowd. After finishing this song they went in and came back out for the encore, which this Pomona crowd really deserved. It was the band's first ever show in Pomona and it was nice to see that they were enjoying the great response that they were getting. They gave us an amazing encore consisting of Everytime I Die and of course, Hate Crew Deathroll.

The band was really in their elements tonight. The band's energy got reflected onto the crowd in a big way and it made for a thrilling atmosphere at the Glass House. Alexi was as energetic and aggressive as I've ever seen. Roope and Henkka complimented the main man very, very well. As I said before, Janne was great and so was Jaska. As I might have said before, the smaller the place, the better the show. So for me this was definitely better than Bodom's headline show at the Wiltern last year which is a much bigger place. I really liked the vibe at the show here and I hope to attend more shows at this cool venue again very soon. And I hope its not just Bodom and other bands from the great country of Finland visit us more often.

Finally I would like to say this. I find a lot of people who are haters of the Melodic Death Metal genre. To them I would say, its your loss that you can't appreciate the genius of a band like Children Of Bodom. To those who are not haters but not big fans, I would suggest you to go to a Children Of Bodom headline show and I guarantee that you'll be converted into a huge fan straightaway! Here's hoping I get to see them again soon.

Here's their set list:

1. Living Dead Beat
2. Hellhounds on My Trail
3. Silent Night, Bodom Night
4. Hate Me!
5. Follow The Reaper
6. Lake Bodom
7. Bodom After Midnight
8. Are You Dead Yet?
9. Blooddrunk
10. Angels Don't Kill
11. In Your Face
12. Sixpounder
13. Downfall
14. Every Time I Die
15. Hate Crew Deathroll