Manning Bar, Sydney
Monday September 21, 2013 :
This absolutely mammoth tour rolls into Sydney to grace one of the best venues in the world. Soundwave Touring have done well with this double headliner. As is well known, Soundwave Touring CEO and all around awesome dude AJ Maddah is not really interested in putting local bands on, which to the salivating masses at tonight’s proceedings is not a bad thing.
No opening bands, no bullshit, straight into the absolute monster that is Meshuggah. The band are visually and audibly a shock to the senses. Rumbling polyrhythms, the wall of sound that spews forth from the stage is next level, the innocent bystanders can’t help but gawk, some would think from the crowd’s reaction that they were headlining. The sound in the roundhouse is crisp and menacing, perfect for the metal onslaught. Ripping through tracks spreading from their extensive back catalogue. Stand out track is ‘Rational Gaze’ which brings on Idiosyncratic headbanging from vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Frederick Thordenal and Marten Hagstrom along with bass player Dick Lovgren which is absolutely mesmerising. Meshuggah are the pinical of the djent movement, the forefathers if you will. The Swedish monsters don’t muck around with much between song banter, drowned out by chants of Meshuggah from the rabid crowd. Each song is a masterpiece, every note is surgically precise, every beat is hammered to perfection, every vocal is placed seamlessly.
Vocalist Jens says, “hope you’re having a good time” then the band smashes into a blistering rendition of ‘Bleed’, a clear crowd favourite. The band plays a tight 1 hour 15 minute set of blistering riffs, coming to a satisfying sweaty halt with the triple header ‘New Millennium Cyanide Christ’, ‘In Death-Is Life’ and ‘In Death-Is Death (The Last Vigil)’. Some would feel sorry for Lamb of God having to play directly after this perfect storm of vicious metal.
The anticipation in the air is palpable, wild eyed veracious Lamb of God fans are foaming at the mouth to witness the furious audio assault from the band. This being my 7th time seeing them and I know better to not stand in the middle or anywhere near the pit.
Opening with the ripping track ‘Desolation’ from their killer record 2011 album Resolution, during which the members of Meshuggah can be spotted on the balcony watching on along with the one and only Michael Starr from Steel Panther who is in the country for promo support of their upcoming tour with Buckcherry.
The band are sounding as vital and uncompromising as ever. They rip a double header of ‘Ghost Walking’ and the absolutely demolishing rendition of ‘Walk With Me In Hell’ which is heavier than a bag of mountains. Every voice in the venue could be heard from space. Randy Blythe doesn’t miss a beat, having a quick banter about recent legal issues, clearly still fresh in his and the fans minds with many of the fans in the crowd wearing “Free Randy Blythe” t-shirts.
Blasting into the thrashing ‘Set to Fail’, the band have kicked it into a higher gear, proceeded by the track ‘Ruin’ dusted off just in time for their announcement of the reissue of their flawless album, As The Palaces Burn, which has been remixed and remastered and should be out later this year. I for one will be purchasing that album.
The band are looking excited to be back on stage. Bass player, John Campbell’s, eyes frantically scanning the crowd, guitarists Willie Adler and Mark Morton are hitting every note, every lick and every riff like it was their last show. The band launches into another fan favourite, ‘Now You’ve Got Something To Die For’ which sees the pit go absolutely berserk.
Another welcome surprise is the band dusting of the classic, ’11th hour’, one of my personal favourite tracks from their back catalogue, the band are certainly in tune with what their fan base are after. The band smashes through the triple threat of ‘The Undertow’ (which Randy dedicates to his favourite Sydney based ban, The Hard Ons), ‘Omerta’ and the stomping ‘Contractor’ which has so much groove even the security guards manning the front barrier have a bit of a head bang.
The band walk of stage, and the crowd chants “Lamb of God” like possessed animals.
The band makes their triumphant return to the stage, the crowd is deafening. Of course they’re not done. The band fly into ‘In Your Words’ followed by ‘Laid To Rest’, and after the track finished Randy addresses the crowd, suddenly, Michael Starr is on stage in lycra, spandex and one of the most horrible sequined vests I’ve ever seen. He grabs a mic and say’s “Randy, You lost a bet, you need to wear this vest for the next song”. Hilarity ensued, Michael Starr plugged Steel Panther’s tour later in the year then was escorted from the stage by one of LOG’s security guards, all in good fun it seems.
The band finished their triumphant set with the two songs that I know every single person in the venue came to hear. ‘Redneck’ ignites one of the biggest circle pit this venue has seen in recent history, but it’s the truly devastating effect of ‘Black Label’ that has the pit set into meltdown. It can be said that “The wall of death” is a played out cliché but Lamb of God took it as their own and perfected it.
The band leaves as quickly as they came and the crowd leaves satisfied screaming into the night.
Reviewer: Luke Cowan
Photographer: Joe Andersons
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