By Andrew Bansal
May 29th 2013, The City National Grove, Anaheim CA: It’s been well documented that American heavy metal giants Lamb Of God have had a difficult recent period, but they’ve put all of the legal trouble behind them now and are simply looking to make up for the lost time. In that endeavor, they are currently on a month-long US tour which is seeing them hit some of the secondary markets, places they usually don’t get to play. Nine shows deep into the trek, Lamb Of God’s touring party, also consisting of Polish extreme metal band Decapitated and Canadian heavy rock outfit Anciients, arrived in Orange County to play at the Grove of Anaheim. The tickets were already sold out in advance, the fans looked excited right from the get-go, screaming ‘Lamb Of God’ even as they drove into the venue’s parking lot, and the atmosphere was set for a very metal evening.
Anciients kicked off the show at 7.40 with what turned out to be a fantastic 30-minute set. I was perfectly familiar with their music as I recently interviewed them for Guitar World, but until and unless I see a band pull off the same music in the live setting, I reserve my judgements. I’m glad to say that Anciients were able to do complete justice to their material the way they performed it last night. With elements of sludge, death metal, progressive and at times just straight-up hard rock, these guys certainly express themselves as a group with a plethora of musical creativity flowing through boundlessly. The guitar tones were absolutely killer, allowing the band’s full range of soft and heavy music to sound the way it should. They were well appreciated by this largely Lamb Of God crowd, and from what I heard they got the same reception on the recent Death To All tour which goes to show that they can easily fit in with any kind of touring package. An opening band hasn’t impressed me this much in a long, long time. I have a feeling they’re going to be the next big thing in metal. To put it into perspective, I would say Anciients is North America’s answer to Enslaved, and all we need now is for those two to tour together.
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Decapitated hit the stage next with their brand of Eastern European-flavored technical death metal. To their credit, they played a solid 40-minute set and did succeed in getting the crowd warmed up for Lamb Of God, as some mosh pits broke out and people started getting really involved in the show. I found myself enjoying the slower, ‘standard’ riffs, the ones that could fit into pretty much any kind of heavy metal and not just in extreme metal, more than the typical tech death riff that guitarist Vogg frequently played throughout the set. As for the solos, they had the potential to make for some great moments but most of them were ruined by the vocalist’s excessive interaction with the crowd as he kept shouting and asking everyone to raise their hands and voices. I get why he was doing it, but it was definitely overdone and spoiled the impact of the actual music to a considerable extent. Thankfully during the Spheres Of Madness solo he left the stage and let everyone hear Vogg’s guitar leads. So overall, even though this performance won’t feature anywhere in my most memorable or mind-blowing live experiences as the music got a little too repetitive with Vogg constantly staying on the lower frets of his guitar and producing the same riffs over and over, it was a good set for all dedicated fans of the tech death genre.
Set List (from Ventura CA 05/26 show, most probably stayed the same for this show):
1. Pest
2. Day 69
3. 404
4. Post(?) Organic
5. Carnival is Forever
6. Homo Sum
7. A View From a Hole
8. Spheres of Madness
The black pieces of cloth that draped Lamb Of God‘s stage gear during the openers’ sets started being taken off amidst loud cheers from the eagerly awaiting crowd. There was genuine excitement in the air at the prospect of welcoming back vocalist Randy Blythe to where he truly belongs, on a stage. The lights went out at 9.45, and an intro video was played on the two backdrop screens placed either side of Chris Adler’s drum kit. From a sequence of buildings being leveled to the ground, the video shifted to show a little girl and zoomed into her eye as Chris Adler and co appeared on stage to start things off with the songs ‘Desolation’ and ‘Ghost Walking’ off of the latest album Resolution. The crowd went nuts, and circle pits opened up in at least three of the five levels of general admission standing areas in this venue. At one point in the recent past, fans feared the worst for Lamb Of God, but as soon as the band began their onslaught last night, these fans did not hold back in expressing just how stoked they were to see things back to normal. It was all well and good, as Lamb Of God were on their way to a typically intense performance.
The Resolution songs were well received, and were followed by Randy Blythe’s first speech of the night. Donning a Corrosion Of Conformity shirt, the enigmatic frontman proceeded on to mention some of the troubles he’d faced recently, and how the kid who died in Prague was just a fan like the people at the Grove. On that note, they belted out ‘Walk With Me In Hell’, a song that always sends chills up my spine, and a song I rate as one of the best live songs. That fantastic opening riff got people pumped, and the Grove was bouncing with Randy as soon as the song kicked into gear. By the end of this one, the intensity level inside this venue was nearing its peak, and with songs like ‘Set To Fail’ and ‘Ruin’, it was raised even further.
Next came another Randy Blythe speech, as he talked about the American armed forces and dedicated the song ‘Now You’ve Got Something To Die For’ to them. The crowd was loving every minute of this, as Randy was also hitting his groove, both with the singing and the audience interaction. He mentioned Jeff Hanneman before they proceeded to play ’11th Hour’. From that point on, it was all about the sheer ferocity of the band’s live sound as they played one tune after the other non-stop, bringing out ‘The Undertow’, ‘Omerta’ and ‘Contractor’, following which the band finally took a little breather.
‘The Passing’, the intro track off of the Wrath album was played on the PA next, accompanied by a great video of images from around the world which made perfect sense with the tune’s title and with the band’s travels. Randy’s scream to kick off ‘In Your Words’ was beyond epic, as he showed he’s still very much at the peak of his powers vocals-wise. The show ended with three crowd favorites ‘Laid To Rest’, ‘Redneck’ and ‘Black Label’, and preceding Redneck was Randy’s customary final speech, consisting of a mention of the opening bands and thanking this huge crowd for their attendance.
In terms of musicianship, Lamb Of God simply never disappoint in the live setting, and they certainly pleased one and all with the performance last night. Guitarists Will Adler and Mark Morton were extremely solid with the riffs and solos while John Campbell and Chris Adler did their part on the rhythm section. One aspect that did stand out to me as compared to past Lamb Of God live experiences was the addition of the video track to go with the music. I wasn’t able to catch their LA show last year, so it was great to see a raised level of effort put in to make the show a spectacle for the fans. The band has definitely beefed up their stage production with a barrage of lights, both of the regular and strobe variety, further adding to the show. The strobe lights were a bit of an overkill though to be honest, and at times I couldn’t even look straight at the stage. At any live show, I personally prefer to watch the band and head-bang if the music gets me to do it, but last night it turned into more of a ‘listen and head-bang’ kind of session as it wasn’t even possible to watch the band for too long because of the strobes.
Set list-wise, there was nothing new or different as compared to the last few times I’ve seen them, but Lamb Of God is the kind of band that entertains live no matter what they play, which was proven by the satisfied expressions on the fans’ faces as they were leaving the show. There is still a chunk of dates the band has remaining on this tour, so if you’re a fan of Lamb Of God, or in general a fan of heavy metal who doesn’t try being a mainstream-hating hipster, go check out this show and you can be assured of a good time, because Lamb Of God are back in all their full glory, and will continue doing what they do best.
Set List:
1. Desolation
2. Ghost Walking
3. Walk With Me In Hell
4. Set To Fail
5. Ruin
6. Now You’ve Got Something To Die For
7. 11th Hour
8. The Undertow
9. Omerta
10.Contractor
11.The Passing
12.In Your Words
13.Laid To Rest
14.Redneck
15.Black Label
Remaining Tour Dates:
05/31 – Chico, Calif. @ Senator Theater *
06/01 – Portland, Ore. @ Roseland Ballroom *
06/02 – Kennewick, Wash. @ Toyota Ice Arena *
06/03 – Missoula, Manitoba @ Wilma Theater *
06/04 – Billings, Manitoba @ Shrine Auditorium *
06/06 – Fargo, N.D. @ The Venue *
06/07 – Madison, Wis. @ Orpheum Theater *
06/08 – Lincoln, Neb. @ Bourbon Theater *
06/09 – Wichita, Kansas @ The Cotillion *
06/10 – Tulsa, Okla. @ Cain’s Ballroom *
06/12 – Ft. Wayne, Ind. @ Pierre’s +
06/13 – Rochester, N.Y. Water @ Street Music Hall +
06/14 – Atlantic City, N.J. @ House of Blues +
06/15 – Montebello, Quebec @ Montebello Marina / Amnesia Rockfest +
06/16 – Portland, Maine @ State Theater +
06/18 – Worcester, Mass. @ Palladium Ballroom +
06/19 – Baltimore, Md. @ Rams Head +
06/20 – Norfolk, Va. @ The Norva +
* = w/ Decapitated & Anciients
+ = w/ Decapitated & The Acacia Strain