3teeth

Live at Club Union

Los Angeles, California

January 14th, 2017

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

The Satanic Temple of Los Angeles in conjunction with Das Bunker were putting on a Black Mass doubling as a fund raiser for the Temple. With several rituals being performed throughout the night came an excellent musical lineup as well. Chief amongst those performing this night were Los Angeles' own Industrial rockers, 3teeth.

3teeth are Alexis Mincolla on vocals, Xavier Swafford on keyboards, Chase Brawner on guitar, Andrew Means on a large modular synthesizer installation in the rear, and new comer, Andrew Melendez joining them on drums.

Andrew was out first and laid the backing sound track for the Invocation Ritual for the Temple which basically consisted of a group of the principal members coming on stage and one by one stated what it meant to them personally to invoke the name of Satan and explain what that meant in terms of the outside world. In this way the group covered the Tenants of their organization but also lent a positive reinforcement of their search for personal freedom and societal equality.

The rest of the band came out as the Invocation Ritual came to an end and started the set with their fan favorite, "Nihil". The audience sang along, "Bound! Bound! Bound by Flesh! Freed! Freed! Freed by Blood!"

The screen at the rear of the stage cycled through dark iconography of the Temple while the atmospheric smoke built up on stage until the lighting appeared as solid beams reaching around the band.

They played a number of songs I did not recognize, not sure if this was remixed versions of songs I would normally identify or if they were giving us a further glimpse of what the new album would hold. Either way, they sounded really cool and I am looking forward to hearing them again.

At one point, Alex said this next one was "just for you mother fuckers right here", going into a really cool and trippy song with lots of distortion and synth layers. They played a number of my favorite songs from their self titled debut album as well with songs like "Dust", "Chasm", and the awesome "Master of Decay".

They definitely did a couple of new ones that I did recognize including their latest single, "Atrophy", so a really well rounded set list for this occasion.

It was a great show and really cool getting to see them at a different venue as I usually catch them at the Viper Room in West Hollywood and the Union offers a bigger stage as well as a different lighting setup.

They sounded great as they always do, and the crowd was rowdy and into the show, with a solid mosh pit circling the entire performance and even some enthusiastic crowd surfing going on.

Overall the entire night was a cool experience with Author and Punisher performing right before 3teeth, as well as two other rituals through out the night. 3teeth were definitely the highlight in terms of energy and performance, and remain one of my favorite bands to see live.

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