In front of a packed house and playing in front of your home town crowd, you know that you have to deliver the goods. Coal Chamber did just that on Saturday night at the House of Blues. Their 75 minute set was blisteringly heavy and pleased everyone in attendance. This was the second time Coal Chamber has played Los Angeles since they announced their return, only this time they were tighter than they had ever been and were playing with such a passion that it seemed like they never left. Their setlist included songs from all their albums including two new ones from their new album Rivals (their first album in 13 years). The new songs “I. O. U. (Nothing)” and “Rivals” were very strong, heavy and what you would expect new Coal Chamber to sound like, not to mention they will be crowd favorites for a long time to come. Dez’s vocals are still ferocious and unrelenting. Meegs still has the knack for the down tuned riffs. Mike Cox and Nadja are tighter than they ever were live before. Some highlights from their set included opening with “Loco,” “Big Truck,” the always fun sing along “Rowboat,” “Not Living,” “I,” and closing the night was “Sway.”

Also playing the night was Filter. I’ve been a Filter fan for a long time and was really looking forward to seeing how this would play out for them in front of this audience. Well it didn’t go that great. Richard Patrick just couldn’t get the crowd going and engaged until the final song of the night. His new band was sloppy, kept having technical problems and who ever was doing their sound needs to be fired for the mix he put up. Their short set was so so. Though they did open with “You Walk Away” from their album The Amalgamut which was a nice surprise. I thought they would have opened with something like “Welcome To The Fold” instead. They did play “Jurrassitol” from The Crow: City Of Angels soundtrack. Closing their set was “Hey Man, Nice Shot” with special guest guitarist Brian Liesegang (who was in the original incarnation of the band). Filter is a good band but not the right fit for this tour.

The second band of the night was Combichrist. I’m not very familiar with them at all. And as entertaining as they were, I couldn’t get into them. Musically they have an industrial tinge to them, but it sways more to the EDM side of things. Their singer looks like the type of guy that would front a hardcore band, not a band like this, I will give him props for being really engaging with the crowd. The band did have a lot of energy and you could tell that a lot of people in attendance were big fans of the band. I’m still not sold on them.

Opening the night was American Head Charge. They were one of my favorite bands that came out of the scene in the early 2000’s and it was really great to see them back on stage. They came out strong and brought the heavy. Their very short set did include a brand new song off an album they said would be coming out in June.

This was a great night full of nostalgia in the Sunset Strip area where a lot of bands from the late 90’s and early 2000’s made their name (along with countless others dating back to the 60’s). It’s also sad to know that soon the House of Blues on Sunset will be torn down to make room for some monstrosity of an expensive hotel. The thing that stuck out to me this evening was the sheer excitement and enjoyment everyone in attendance had to see Coal Chamber back on stage killing it.

Coal Chamber Set List:

1. Loco
2. Big Truck
3. I.O.U. Nothing (New Song)
4. Fiend
5. Rowboat
6. Something Told Me
7. Clock
8. Drove
9. Not Living
10. Dark Days
11. I
12. Rivals (New Song)
13. No Home
14. Oddity
15. Sway

Filter Set List:

1. You Walk Away
2. Can’t You Trip Like I Do
3. We Hate It When You Get What You Want
4. What Do You Say
5. Jurrassitol
6. Dose
7. Hey Man, Nice Shot

By: Brian Lacy