Combichrist / Filter / Rabia Sorda – Glasgow 30/06/2016

Having interviewed the awesome Andy LaPlegua from Combichrist (click here), Alan Sneddon and myself were really looking forward to seeing the three bands play live… and we weren’t disappointed!

First up were Rabia Sorda, the side project of Erk Aicrag (lead singer of Mexican aggro tech band, Hocico).  These guys delivered a fantastic set of songs that combined elements from electronic music, punk rock, and 1980’s pop to create something rather special.  I have to admit I hadn’t heard their stuff before, and I was genuinely impressed by what I saw and heard – I will definitely be checking out the four albums from these guys !

Next up were Filter, one of our personal favourites.  Richard Patrick and co. played a blinding hour long set that included several songs from their latest release, Crazy Eyes, as well as some of the older classics, including ‘Jurassitol‘, ‘Take A Picture‘, ‘Welcome To The Fold‘, and – of course – ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot‘.  The new material went down really well with the crowd, and everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time – including the band.

On the basis of the new album and their live performance, Filter are continuing to go from strength to strength.  Their music perfectly balances the heavy and the mellow, and the angry and the reflective – and live the band are as tight as hell.  Impressive stuff.

Headliners Combichrist played for almost 90 minutes, and right from the off the crowd were totally into it – with a constant mosh pit and a large number of crowd surfers.   The mix of old and new material was perfectly balanced, with the audience loving it all.  One of the highlights was hearing everyone singing along to ‘My World My Rules‘ from the new album – and the grin on Andy LaPlegua‘s showed he felt the same way.

Combichrist were clearly giving it their all, and I can honestly say I’ve not seen a front man be so into what he’s doing as Andy LaPlegua – he didn’t stop or rest for the whole set, and the energy and vibe he was giving off was incredible.  This was the first time we’d seen Combichrist play live, and we were blown away by what we saw – if these guys come back to Scotland, we’ll definitely be checking them out again.

So there you have it, an incredible night of full-on industrial / metal with all three bands delivering the goods.  Simply outstanding !