The Chaos and Carnage Tour hit Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre for its second night of metal and madness while on their one-month North American tour. An incredible lineup featuring Dying Fetus, Cradle of Filth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Ne Obliviscaris, along with Undeath, Vomit Forth, and Corpse Pile to create an unforgettably epic sold out night.
With doors open at 4:00 pm, black metal fans flocked to the bright and sunny streets of LA’s Koreatown before dusk was even detectable. The beautiful and historic Wiltern Theatre was packed with fans on all levels, from the main lobby bar to the long hallway bar, with fans lined up the stairs for the merch tables. Even with the venue space splitting audiences between the GA floor and the upstairs Mezzanine, the floor area became crowded quickly.
American death metal bands Corpse Pile and Vomit Forth opened the event with two 25-minute sets, followed by New York’s Undeath. There was a lot of excitement in the air, and even with the early afternoon show times, the audience showed up ready to rock. The stage was dressed with a large “Chaos and Carnage” decorative banner with large fonts and slashes. The show was just getting started.
Ne Obliviscaris, an Australian six-piece progressive metal band, was next. They took a perfect presence to the stage with impressive string elements to accompany their riffs. Their tracks took us through some melodic ups and downs and brought the show to a new level with the violin solos. With tracks totaling around 11-12 minutes long, Ne Obliviscaris sent us on a journey that was both exciting to capture as it was to listen to.
After a brief pause, the stage was then reset for Fleshgod Apocalypse, who demanded our attention with their moody gothic opera vibe. The stage was dressed with gothic candelabras, a skull, baroque lighting, and a piano situated beside the drums. The pianist appeared first seemingly out of thin air and took a seat at the piano, followed by two spotlights cast upon a trunk of skulls with front singer, Veronica Bordacchini, standing on top in an opera mask holding an Italian flag. After a few moody notes on the piano, Veronica captivates us immediately with her opening opera vocals from “Ode to Art (de’ Sepolcri)” and it’s clear that we’re in for a treat where theatre, gothic romance and death metal all bleed together. Similar to their new 2024 album, Opera (Nuclear Blast Records), the song flows straight into the second track, “I Can Never Die” with vicious screams to send us back into the heavy.
This was my first time hearing of this group, and I became a quick and instant fan of not only their music, but also their incredibly emotional and aesthetic production. Not surprised that a band from Italy would deliver on all of these elements perfectly, but was incredibly stoked to discover and experience them in the flesh.
The rest of their set included another hard-hitter from the Opera album, “Pendulum” along with “Bloodclock”, and some of their older releases, “Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon)”, “The Fool”, “Sugar”, and “The Violation”. After blowing all of our minds for 40 minutes, they decided to wrap their set with a very fun and brutal cover of Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” which was very fun and unique to see in a metal setting.
Soon it was time for Cradle of Filth, and The Wiltern somehow grew even more crowded with excited and inebriated fans. This was such a fun show to run around and bump into friends from different sections of the music industry. It really felt like all of Los Angeles’ finest metalheads, and filthlings, were present for it.
Cradle of Filth did not disappoint. They always deliver a refined and eloquently evil performance as such a renowned black metal band. Upon hearing the spooky opening of one of their newer tracks, “To Live Deliciously” off their 14th studio album released this March, The Screaming Of the Valkyries, the excitement of the whole venue was explosive. With a background banner composed of the new album’s horrifying artwork and Dani Filth’s iconic skeleton mic stand, the terrors were soon unleashed.
Dani is such a talented artist, his vocals, his stage presence, his dance moves, he always brings his game on point. As someone who’s been listening to Cradle since the tender, angsty age of 12, it’s been a pleasure to now be an adult capturing photos and seeing the mayhem transpire before my eyes. Especially with some of the older songs they played at the end of their set including, “Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids”, from 1998 album, Cruelty & The Beast, along with “Death Magick for Adepts”, and most famously, “Her Ghost in the Fog” from their 2000 album, Midian. Songs that really helped augment my own working imagination during an era where I only felt seen within the grotesque, where I only felt truly inspired at the intersection of theater and metal. Something I’ve always appreciated from Cradle is their emotional and narrative elements alongside the heavy riffs and screams. The craftsmanship of their storytelling will always remain one of the most compelling aspects of this group’s immense legacy, and Chaos and Carnage was the perfect environment.
The setlist also included, “She Is a Fire”, from 2023 album, Trouble and Their Double Lives, “Heartbreak and Seance” from 2017 album, Cryptoriana- The Seductiveness of Decay, and “The Forest Whispers My Name”, from 2012 album, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh. With Zoe Federoff on keyboard and backing vocals, Marek “Ashok” Smerda and Donny Burbage on guitar, Daniel Firth on bass, and Martin “Marthus” Škaroupka on drums, The Wiltern was rocked sideways in full chaos, full carnage.
As if the night could not have exceeded itself any further, American death metal Dying Fetus takes the stage for the final closing act. With a simple silk reading, “DYING FETUS” in huge letters behind the artists, and colorful and chaotic spotlights swirling around, the audience went feral with the first brutal riff and deep guttural growls of vocalist and guitarist, John Gallagher, and vocalist and bassist, Sean Beasley. With Trey Williams on the drums giving unrelenting double pedals, the audience closest to the stage moshed and swirled in a fast-moving, violent pit. After nearly five full hours of death metal music, the crowd was more than ready to give everything they had for the final set.
Opening with, “Praise the Lord (Opium of the Masses)” from their 2000 album, Destroy the Opposition, Dying Fetus then took us through some more of their older bangers such as, “One Shot, One Kill”, from 2003 album, Stop At Nothing, and “Your Treachery Will Die With You” from 2009 album, Descend Into Depravity, along with tracks from their 2023 album, Make Them Beg For Death, “Compulsion For Cruelty” and “Unbridled Fury”.
From the early daylight hours to the darkest night, Chaos and Carnage successfully rampaged through Los Angeles on what appears to be a very successful North American tour. With shows heading to the East Coast and Midwest now through mid-May, be sure to catch one of these epic metal nights if you can.
Get tickets to the remaining dates here:
https://www.chaosandcarnage.com/
Buy Cradle of Filth music and merch here:
https://amzn.to/44WdULF
Buy Dying Fetus music and merch here:
https://amzn.to/43eVzbq
KIMBERLY MORAN
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