Amduscia

Live at Tia Juana's

Pomona, CA

November 25th, 2016

Review by Travis Baumann

Photos by Tina and Travis Baumann

Amduscia make their long awaited live debut on U.S. soil in the slightly removed Los Angeles suburb of Pomona, fittingly on Black Friday.

Amduscia formed just before the turn of the millennium in Mexico City, and for over a decade and half have been putting their own spin on harsh EBM and Aggrotech style of Industrial dance music with an Ethereal quality.

The name Amduscia is derived from medieval demonology and was said to be a Duke of Hell dedicated to music. The Duke was capable of making concerts with invisible instruments. Amduscia build all of their aural sound-scapes electronically so figuratively, the instruments are "invisible".

The large portion of their songs are in their native tongue of Spanish and lyrically, they cover many aspects of the darker side of humanity, especially the corruption and economic problems of their homeland that is glossed over with organized religion maintaining a passive state.

Originally a trio of artists, one of the musicians left in 2009 followed by the tragic passing of Edgar "Amduscia" Acevedo from leukemia in 2010. Polo Amduscia has carried on Edgar's legacy and continues to put out albums and tour the world.

Amduscia have released five full length albums and several EP's so they had a large selection of material to draw upon. For nearly an hour and a half they performed songs from all over their career, ranging from old favorites off their debut album "Melodies For The Devil" to their latest offering, "Filofobia".

Polo wore striking face paint that immediately made me think of other dark bands like Goth Minister, ASP, and King Diamond.  He moved about the stage stirring up the audience as he gave his harsh distorted vocal delivery. His bandmate, Adrian stood in the back playing keyboards and using percussion pads to trigger sounds and beats.

The venue had a decent turnout for the day after Thanksgiving and requiring a considerable trek for some of us living in Los Angeles proper. The crowd up front actively raised hands, waved Mexican flags, and sang along to the music but there were dozens of people that lined the outer regions of the club that for some reason wanted to remain in the shadows and see the band from afar.

This was my second time seeing Amduscia live, the first requiring a trip down into Mexico to see them in Tijuana years ago. The band has remained true to their musical stylings but also have had to go through many changes due to the departure and tragic loss of band members. They still know how to put on a great show however, building energy levels and releasing aggressive tension as only Industrial bands can.

Amduscia have mentioned a potential U.S. tour in 2017 so if all goes well, we will get to see them again soon.

Click the banner above

to return the navigation page of the

Virtual Night Angel

website