Staff Editor on March 14th, 2019

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Deafheaven returned to the Wiltern with the same fast and heavy “blackgaze” metal that they brought to the venue last August. Led by the whipping hair and screaming vocals of George Clarke, Deafheaven reined in the evening with a “short” seven-song set consisting of one new tune, “Black Brick,” and their Grammy-nominated (Best Metal Performance) epic “Honeycomb.” Deafheaven, Baroness, and opener Zeal & Ardor are one week into this current tour and will be hitting various cities across the country until the end of April.

Having just announced their new record “Gold & Grey” (coming June 14), Baroness took to the stage to play a slew of tunes from all of their previous chromatically themed albums, as well as one new song “Borderlines” from the upcoming release. Frontman John Baizley shared his enthusiasm to once again be playing in Los Angeles — their last L.A. appearance was at the Wiltern back in 2008. Upon starting “Isak,” the only song that they performed off their first record “Red Album,” Baizley gave a shout out to his lifelong friend and previous Baroness drummer Allen Blickle (2003-2013), hoping that they would do the song justice.

Zeal & Ardor opened the show with their unique avant-garde and melodic take on heavy metal, offering more vocalists than guitars, an unusual sight for a metal act.

||| Live: Baroness, Deafheaven and Zeal & Ardor play tonight at the House of Blues Anaheim. Info.

Photos by Samuel C. Ware