Combichrist’s We Love You Tour 2014 has been rampaging across North America, scheduled to stop in twenty nine cities. With strong and dynamic support from William Control and New Years Day, the tour has seen each show maxing out ticket sales. Playing a spectacular show in NYC two nights prior, this wave of energy made its way north to Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA on Tuesday April 8th to play another packed room.
Beginning the show in vibrant and colorful fashion was Californian rock band New Years Day. Coming off their statement album Victim to Villain in 2013, Ashley Costello and company have been making waves across the nation, spreading the word of their dark and powerful sound. Taking the stage in a seductive fashion, the band performed a tight and energetic set. Each member made their presence known on stage with emotion and flare in their delivery. Costello’s voice was massive and more people are seeing her to be the elite front woman she is. With already catchy, heavy, and moody tunes, the theatrical persona of New Years Day is like a firecracker ready to pop. Goth metal lovers would be remiss to not check this band out.
Next up was dark electronic rocker William Control. Control’s presence is magnetic, even when not dressed as a priest. William Francis created the character in 2008 with the album Hate Culture, and has since given fans chance to read Control’s story in the book Revelator. The singer, hailing from Seattle,WA, recently released his fourth album The Neuromancer accompanied by the sexy new music video for the song “Revelator”.
Control’s voice was complimented perfectly with synth player Ian McWilliams and Bassist Kenneth Fletcher. He performs fan favorite songs such as, “I’m Only Human Sometimes” and “Beautiful Loser”. The crowd sang and danced along as Control tore off his Priest outfit to reveal a suit, adjusted his tie, and proceeds to bring Ashley Costello of New Years Day on stage to sing “Tranquilize” and “Dorian Gray”. Towards the end of his set, he assured the audience they will all hear his romantic and dark sound again in the fall of 2014. For fans in the Europe, William will be on a UK/European tour in August.
A live Combichrist performance is something everyone should experience once before they kick the bucket. The band was formed in 2003 by the stage commanding, Norwegian frontman Andy LaPlegua. After fans had been sitting on the edge of their seats for four years, waiting for more, Combichrist released the album We Love You. After hearing it, the loving feeling remains mutual. Their live lineup rounded out by Joe Letz (drums), Z-Marr, (electronics), Abbey Nex (guitar), and Tiffany Lowe (electronics) took the stage, and the audience packed close to the stage ready for the fun to begin.
Igniting the fire early, they opened with “We Were Made To Love You”, a song made for an audience ready to interact. The crowd screams the lyrics “HATE. DISORDER. LOVE. DESTROY” along with LaPlegua, backed up with their hard hitting signature beat that one cannot help but lose themselves in. In between songs, at one point, LaPlegua spoke about how people fight between the different scenes and subcultures in Rock and Roll; making it clear, you should not care about such trivial things, and just love the music for being great music.
As they moved on the set list featured such songs as “Today I Woke Up to The Rain of Blood”, “Blut Royale”, “Can’t Control” and “Throat Full of Glass”. Exerting the amount of energy they do on stage, it is difficult to focus on just one member of this band. At times, fans attention was drawn to Nex, who is incredible to see in action; watching him jump up and down and lose himself to the beat just as the audience does. Then quickly everyone’s eyes were to Letz, who is entertaining all alone to watch; letting the water he poured on his kit splash him as he pours his heart into each song. Letz even lost pieces of his drums, and watching the tech play-fight with Letz and LaPlegua over putting it back added a bit of laughter in between the heavy sound. If some people were about to exit Paradise Rock Club because they thought the set was over, they needed to think again. The loose drum pieces quickly found their place with Nick Rossi (Drummer of New Years Day), who sat on stage as they played “Fuck That Shit”. This truly was a memorable evening for all in attendance. Be sure to check out the rest of this tour before it concludes in mere days.
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