It’s a dark Thursday night in Los Angeles just southeast of the downtown area. Deep in the grimy industrial district of the city, lies the 1720 Warehouse. It’s a very unsuspecting concert venue… unless you’ve ever been to an underground night club or rave. In that case, this is just par for the course. You find a parking spot in the streets of an unsavory neighborhood and then make sure to arm your alarm multiple times for confirmation as you walk away.
In reality you and your car are probably safer here in this dirty industrial district than in most parts of the city. Surfaces can be deceiving.
Tonight Darkest Hour is playing. They are promoting their brand new album Perpetual | Terminal and are sure to have some killer opening bands. It is also undoubtedly true that they will play a lot of fan favorites from their early catalog tonite.
The first band we caught was called Mouth for War. A very obvious Pantera reference, although outside of their heavy vocal style the band does not sound like Pantera at all. They plowed through an energetic set warming everyone up for the next band, Texas hardcore act IAM. IAM proved they were metal scene vets with a high energy performance. They drew in a large crowd of excited fans who even stirred up the beginnings of a circle pit.
When Darkest Hour arrived on the stage I pushed up to the front and took a spot. As soon as the music kicked in the crowd went nuts, myself included. I jumped in unison flailing my arms in front of me in some sort of “defensive mosh” position.
Once the initial rush of the music died off and things slowed a bit I realized that I had emptied the contents of my pockets. My wallet, my keys, all lost somewhere on the floor of the venue. I began to panic looking around wildly on the floor and seeing nothing… and then it happened. One of the guys who had been standing just behind me tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around to him holding up my keys, his friend my wallet and all of the cards that had flown out of it. I turned around and engulfed both of them in a massive bear hug sighing: “THANK YOU BROTHER(S)”
You have to love the integrity of a true metal crowd.
Darkest Hour’s performance was top tier. They played with the confidence of a band who has been in the trenches slugging it out for years but savoring every single moment of it. The set began with the title track from their new album Perpetual | Terminal and their set included several of their more popular songs from Convalescence to Demon(s) and one of my personal favorites – Doomsayer.
After about an hour of bangers, the band finally ended their set and were quickly called back on stage for an encore. The final song of the night was “Tranquil” and it was the absolute perfect way to close out the set. John walked off the stage as the outro started and let the band show off a bit before finally drawing the music down and the show to a close.
Darkest Hour are still on tour in support of Perpetual | Terminal. If you get a chance to catch them in your town do not miss it GET TICKETS HERE.
Here are a list of the remaining dates w/ I Am, Filth Is Eternal & Somnuri:
3/19 Seattle, Wa @ El Corazon
3/21 Salt Lake City, Ut @ Metro Music Hall
3/22 Denver, Co @ The Marquis
3/23 Wichita, Ks @ Lodge Room – Temple Live
3/25 Minneapolis, Mn @ The Turf Club
3/26 Chicago, Il @ Reggies
3/27 Detroit, Mi @ The Sanctuary
3/28 Cleveland, Oh @ Asulum Room – Temple Live
3/29 Pittsburgh, Pa @ Perserving Underground
3/30 Toronoto, On @ Axis
4/1 Ottawa, On The Brass Monkey
4/2 Montreal, Qc Fairmount Theatere
4/3 Quebec City, Qc @ La Source De La Martiniere
4/4 Cambridge, Ma @ Sonia
4/5 Brooklyn, Ny @ The Meadows
4/6 Washington, Dc @ The Black Cat
