A review of Arkhea posted by stymee007 on January 23, 2009 11:31 AM
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When: Jan 15, 2009
Venue: Whisky
Where: Los Angeles
LIve debuts often builds up much anticipation, especially when it involves name people performing new music. Tonight's show falls under that category within the heavy metal community as the debut performance by Arkhea finally arrived in front of a moderate sized crowd on a Thursday night. Arkhea is the new band featuring Fear Factory bassist turned guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers and drummer Raymond Herrera, along with Threat Signal vocalist Jon Howard and bassist Pat Kavanaugh. Musically, Arkhea is not that distant from the members' two main bands, but possibly a bit more stripped down and has a bit more groove to its sound. The band was battling sound issues throughout their set, but still came out sound alright. Howard worked the lackluster crowd to the best of his abilities, and eventually got a mini-circle pit going by the middle of their set. His vocal style consists more power shrieks and less melody than their previous bands, which gives Arkhea their aggressive side. Olde Wolbers' guitar playing featured as much riffing as in his main band, but he mixed it up with a lot of groove into their overall sound. The rhythm section complimented his playing by providing the groove the band got across.
Being this is only their first show, Arkhea got a good beginning going to the live portion of the band. Despite sound issues, they put on a good show. It will still take some time until they find a good combination of songs to crush audiences with. Fans of both of the members' previous bands should like what is about to come from Arkhea.