After the release of Born of Osiris’ new album ‘The Simulation‘, the band ran out to tour the country on The Simulation Tour featuring Chelsea Grin, Make Them Suffer, and Kingdom of Giants.
Our journey begins at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles about a week into the tour. Early on a Saturday night, the crowd lined up outside the theater in the brisk evening air, all huddled together for warmth. As the doors opened and the crowd filed in, spirits arose while spirits were downed.
Kingdom of Giants opened the night and made a giant (the pun was too easy and I’m not sorry) impact on the energy of the crowd. Sacramento natives Kingdom of Giants put on the best opening act I’ve seen in the last 6 months. Their on-stage presence and music were energetic and incredibly heavy. Their brutal breakdowns felt more syncopated and heavier than the average opening band, but this isn’t the average tour. The crowd held up their hands collectively during an intense breakdown as red lights blasted the crowd and a massive mosh pit opened up. Kingdom of Giants raised the energy level to new heights as the opening band of The Simulation Tour, and the show was just beginning. After seeing Kingdom of Giants play live, I’ll definitely be listening to more of their music.
Australia has been consistently cranking out brilliant metal bands such as Parkway Drive, Thy Art Is Murder, Polaris, and now Make Them Suffer. As I drove to the Regent, the song “Ether” by Make Them Suffer came on my Spotify playlist and blew me away. At that point, I knew I would be in for a good show. WOW did they deliver. Make Them Suffer provided a lot more than expected as the second opening. Each band perpetually increased the gravity of both the heaviness of the music and the syncopated breakdowns. Their set was very energetic and the crowd was continuously moving and moshing. To finish off the already amazing set, Make Them Suffer concluded by playing “Ether,” the song I had discovered in the car on the way to the show.
If you haven’t seen Chelsea Grin live, I would highly recommend it. This deathcore band puts on one of the most brutal shows I’ve seen rivaling Slipknot, Emmure, and Attila. With some of the most intense breakdowns imaginable, the crowd was either moshing like there’s no tomorrow or standing still trying to recover before the next breakdown. At one point during one of their songs, they played 1 bar of pure silence during a breakdown which was one of the heaviest things I’ve seen at a metal show. Chelsea Grin played 6 songs off of their newest album The Eternal Nightmare. Their brutal screams and hardcore breakdowns were an absolute treat. The most intense song of the set was “Hostage” where the whole crowd began singing the intro and then began jumping and moshing like crazy. From massive circle pits to a wall of death, Chelsea Grin got the crowd insanely hyped up for the final act, Born of Osiris.
Born of Osiris came onstage and played “Empires Erased” making the crowd go absolutely wild. Over the course of the night, Born of Osiris would play a 15 song set with 5 songs coming off of their new album The Simulation and 4 songs from their hit album The New Reign. From start to finish, the energy in the venue was fiery as bright spotlights shone through the hazy room. The smell of the devil’s lettuce filled the room as devil horns filled the sky and the crowd incessantly moshed and jumped with delight. As always, Born of Osiris played some of their heaviest songs “Throw Me In The Jungle” and “Machine” to conclude their set. Naturally, the crowd cried out for an encore and after a brief intermission, they were rewarded with “Abstract Art.” With bellies full of beer, ears ringing, and hearts pounding, the exhausted crowd eventually dissipated into the cold streets of Los Angeles.
