Lamb of God, Killer Be Killed @ 170 Russell, Melbourne (24/02/2015)
Killer Be Killed and Lamb Of God were two of the bands that I missed while burning skin and drinking more water than the average camel at Soundwave over the weekend. However the only way I would’ve missed the two bands play to a packed out club was if the Lamb Of God fan inside of me took hold and had an impromptu faint mid-gig.
That didn’t happen, thankfully. Up first was Killer Be Killed, the supergroup consisting of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato, Soulfly’s Max Cavela, Mastodon’s Troy Sanders and Antemasque’s drummer, Dave Elitch (who had Converge drummer and young Ozzy Osbourne look-alike Ben Koller fill in for him). This is a band that came out swinging hard last year with their critically acclaimed debut eponymous album. |
The venue was full quite a while before the band came on and there was a surprisingly large amount of fans in attendance – who all lapped up the tight and heavy hour-long set.
Cavela and Sanders commanded the crowd with a powerful, dominant presence, and the fans did as they were told at every call. Puciato, whose full time gig is climbing over stages and crowds in The Dillinger Escape Plan, looked a little out of place with his lack of flowing hair and facial hair. Yet he didn’t falter being put out of his element as the only hardcore kid, so as soon as the band hit the stage he’d already launched himself into the crowd in a ferocious show of violent energy.
Songs like Fire To Your Flag, and Wings Of Feather And Wax, Face Down, Melting Of My Marrow, and I.E.D. were just some of the finer cuts from their debut release and the band did not disappoint in what was actually their third ever live show. I swear that if you didn’t know that, you would have thought they’d been a band for a couple decades now.
Speaking of which...Lamb Of God don’t really need an introduction, do they? They are one of the biggest metal bands going and that was proved when they pulled one of the biggest crowds at the Melbourne Soundwave, and you know, the venue basically being full of fans rocking their merch. This was my first time seeing the band live in full as I saw a criminally short part of their set at Soundwave 2012, and then missed their 2013 tour, so I was long overdue to see the Virginian five-piece.
The band – lead by the always commanding and intense Randy Blythe - ran through a very impressive 80-minute set, but one that was sadly identical to their festival sets. Laid To Rest, Redneck, Desolation, Ghost Walking, Omerta – which had it’s spoken work intro preluded by chants of “Randy’s a sick cunt!” - and Ruin, were just a few put on for the now insanely excited punters. While I would have loved to have seen more miscellaneous songs (11th Hour or Again We Rise for instance), I wasn’t going to start complaining with a show that damn good.
Now like how it wouldn’t be a Slipknot show unless the band asked the crowd to kneel down for the end of Spit It Out, it wouldn’t be a Lamb Of God show unless there was a wall of death for the always brutal, Black Label. So once the opening snare and drum fills came in from powerhouse drummer, Chris Adler, the floor at 170 Russell split in half and was soon turned into a battlefield of sweaty bodies and black t-shirts before the band blew the roof off the venue and disembarked for the next part of the tour.
After the show I was a tired, sweaty mess, but a happy tired, sweaty mess so you know what that means? Lamb Of God fucking killed it. With the point they are at in their professional careers and personal lives now, the band seems almost unstoppable – nay, they are unstoppable.
Alexander Sievers
Cavela and Sanders commanded the crowd with a powerful, dominant presence, and the fans did as they were told at every call. Puciato, whose full time gig is climbing over stages and crowds in The Dillinger Escape Plan, looked a little out of place with his lack of flowing hair and facial hair. Yet he didn’t falter being put out of his element as the only hardcore kid, so as soon as the band hit the stage he’d already launched himself into the crowd in a ferocious show of violent energy.
Songs like Fire To Your Flag, and Wings Of Feather And Wax, Face Down, Melting Of My Marrow, and I.E.D. were just some of the finer cuts from their debut release and the band did not disappoint in what was actually their third ever live show. I swear that if you didn’t know that, you would have thought they’d been a band for a couple decades now.
Speaking of which...Lamb Of God don’t really need an introduction, do they? They are one of the biggest metal bands going and that was proved when they pulled one of the biggest crowds at the Melbourne Soundwave, and you know, the venue basically being full of fans rocking their merch. This was my first time seeing the band live in full as I saw a criminally short part of their set at Soundwave 2012, and then missed their 2013 tour, so I was long overdue to see the Virginian five-piece.
The band – lead by the always commanding and intense Randy Blythe - ran through a very impressive 80-minute set, but one that was sadly identical to their festival sets. Laid To Rest, Redneck, Desolation, Ghost Walking, Omerta – which had it’s spoken work intro preluded by chants of “Randy’s a sick cunt!” - and Ruin, were just a few put on for the now insanely excited punters. While I would have loved to have seen more miscellaneous songs (11th Hour or Again We Rise for instance), I wasn’t going to start complaining with a show that damn good.
Now like how it wouldn’t be a Slipknot show unless the band asked the crowd to kneel down for the end of Spit It Out, it wouldn’t be a Lamb Of God show unless there was a wall of death for the always brutal, Black Label. So once the opening snare and drum fills came in from powerhouse drummer, Chris Adler, the floor at 170 Russell split in half and was soon turned into a battlefield of sweaty bodies and black t-shirts before the band blew the roof off the venue and disembarked for the next part of the tour.
After the show I was a tired, sweaty mess, but a happy tired, sweaty mess so you know what that means? Lamb Of God fucking killed it. With the point they are at in their professional careers and personal lives now, the band seems almost unstoppable – nay, they are unstoppable.
Alexander Sievers