It was no April Fools joke that Earthless performed at Long Beach’s Alex’s Bar for their first tour since before the pandemic started in 2019. Earthless is a heavy, psychedelic rock band who mostly play instrumental ballads, which can clock in at over ten minutes plus! This small, intimate show was in support of their newest album, “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.”

The show began with local, Los Angeles’ own heavy rockers Deathchant. Their music is a fuse between heavy rock, punk, metal, and psychedelic rock. I listened to their newest album, “Waste” before the show and their live experience is even better. They rock out hard with heavy riffs and pounding drums. They put on a hell of a show leaving the crowd wanting more.

Earthless’ new album, “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” is paying homage to some of their favorite Japanese psychedelic rock bands from the 70s such as Shinki Chen, Flower Travellin’ Band, and Blues Creation. The artwork on the record by Earthless’ very own Mike Eginton, is based on a Japanese legend where anyone who witnesses the demons, skulls, and dragons will die instantly. It also pays respect to their musical influences and is appropriate for the darker, psychedelic sound in this album.

Earthless blessed the crowd by playing “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” in its entirety. They also played a few other songs like, “Electric Flame” where you can hear Isaiah actually sing, which is quite rare for the band who mostly play instrumental jams up to twenty minutes long with no vocals at all.

Until you hear Earthless play live, blowing your eardrums (like I almost did taking photographs in the front) you cannot explain how amazing these masters of heavy, psychedelic rock are live. The new album sounds even better live with Isaiah Mitchells’ profound, cosmic guitar work, Mario Rubalcaba’s pounding, tribal drums, and Mike Eginton’s lurid, rhythmic bass alive in the flesh! Until you bear witness to this experience, you cannot comprehend the psychedelic sounds of Earthless.

I had the joy of meeting Isaiah after the show. He wasn’t shy to tell me for his love of Japanese psychedelic rock while wearing a shirt of one of his favorites Shinki Chen and he recommended some great music by Shinki and Blues Creation to name a few. I asked the gifted Earthless guitarist one question, “After numerous albums with instrumental music only, what came over of him and the band to incorporate vocals in the album ‘Black Heaven’ after more then ten years?” His answer, “Just to do it.” It was a simple answer for a complex question. I thanked him and he gave me hug, which is quite rare for a rock n roll band usually full of egos. However, Earthless are quite the opposite and will continue to rock your psychedelic socks off in future albums and shows!