LIVE REVIEWS

Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Devildriver, & Soilwork @ Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA.

By: Gian Erguiza - January, 2008

Mark Frantik and I were heading down to the show, possibly, the best show for the whole year. I mean this line-up is to die for. You’ve got four of the best metal bands out right now in the circuit and for these four bands to come together and do a show is simply brutally fantastic!

Upon arriving at the Long Beach Arena parking lot (Scream for me Long Beach!), we were greeted by two officers, much to our dismay. They claimed that we threw something out the window, even though we didn’t in all honesty, and proceeded to do their job. Took us out of my truck and began the slow and unruly process of identification and search. Fucking bastards. They literally didn’t have nothing to do but harass two law abiding citizens about something we had no clue about, littering. Anyhow, after all the bullshit, which lasted about an hour, mind you, they let us go and gave Mark a littering ticket which is complete bullshit. This also caused us to miss Soilwork and half of Devildriver’s set. Thanks assholes, go bust someone else, someone else who is actually committing a crime, not abiding by the law like we did. God the cops really suck most of the time! Fuckers!

Anyhow, by the time we entered the Arena in the pit, the crowd was already swirling into two pits and much of the crowd was chanting and singing along to Devildriver songs. Of the songs we caught on Devildriver’s set, “Clouds over California” stood out the most. Not only because we are in California but because Dez, lead singer, actually explained what the song meant which was quickly approved by the crowd. “Die (and Die Now)” was actually my favorite for the night since it was the first ever DEvildriver song I’ve ever heard from the band, it was complete chaos when that song rang out. “I could care less” was the definite highlight of Devildriver’s set which drew the crowd to a shark frenzy and just blew the pit wide open, it fuckin’ kicked ass. Did I mention that this is the first time I’ve ever seen Devildriver? Well it is and won’t be the last, I will be at the next show, they were impressive musicians with impressive talent!

The band I actually came to see was up next: Killswitch Engage. Once they stepped up to the stage, the crowd pressed in closer and from the get go, sang all the lyrics and showed massive support for these metal titans. The first song was “Fixation on the Darkness,” which quickly established their strength. After the first song, the crowd was in full trance and was acting accordingly by starting some brutal pits and singing along with the choruses. Some of the songs they played that were definite highlights were, “My Last Serenade,” “Arms of Sorrow,” “Self-Revolution,” “ This Fire,” “Rose of Sharyn,” “My Curse,” Life to Lifeless,” and “Desperate Times.” Man, when they went into “A Bid Farewell,” the freakin’ crowd was way louder than the band! It was absolutely great! That song was probably the most ass kicking out of all the songs played that night. Killswitch did look tired though. They had way more energy the last time I saw them but nonetheless, they destroyed the stage. Howard Jones’ voice was pristine as usual and the rest of the band was on point as well. Adam, with signature cape, did most of the talking for the night and had some pretty interesting things to say on the mic, like he always does. God bless Adam. I have to say that I think their set could’ve been better but just when I thought they had no more in them to spark more interest, they played, “End of Heartache.” This song gets me every time. Til’ this day, I cannot believe how good this song is when they play it live. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand in attention. The song is just completely awesome. The arrangement is magnificent, the lyrics are amazing and the song itself is pure classic metal. You heard it here first. Before Killswitch exited stage left, they had one more trick up their sleeve, “Holy Fuckin’ Diver.” This has got to be one of the best remakes of a classic metal song. I mean Killswitch did it with complete justice and didn’t stray too far away from the song making it just absolutely majestic. Dio is one of my favorite metal band sof all time and I bet even Dio was smiling and banging his head when he heard this version. Killswitch had an awesome set and I can’t wait until they drop by again.

“Lamb of God!” “Lamb of God!” “Lamb of God!” the chanting was getting louder by the minute. The crowd was already pumped before Lamb of God so this was about to get chaotic. Then the lights go out.

Holy shit, it’s Lamb of God.

I don’t even remember the first song played since I was actually pretty tossed by this time and the crowd went into violent circle pits as soon as the first note was struck. Lamb of God wasted no time feeding the crowd with pure American metal and we were loving it! By the time they jumped into “Pathetic,” I was lost in the mix and the pits were getting vicious with bodies getting laid out, bloody noses and people getting knocked on their ass no matter what size they were. Talk about a circle pit! “Blacken the cursed son” didn’t help but eased the pits a bit. One of the best songs for the night was “Omerta.” Randy did the whole introduction and it was fuckin’ awesome! “Ruin” again set of the circle pits into violent swirls and the more the song went on, the more the crowd got sucked into the hole. By the end part of “Ruin” where it starts going up beat, I had to take a few steps back cause people were getting demolished in there! Lamb of God sounded tight, real tight. I think this is the tightest that I have ever heard them and it was just completely min-blowing how good they sounded that night. I was more impressed then I ever was and they showed me what it takes to be Metal Gods. Randy is just amazing, both guitarist were pro shredders, bass was fuckin thumpin’ crazy and Adler behind the kit was just a monster. “Laid to Rest” is probably the best song of the night which really showcased the band’s tightness and talent overall. The two other songs which were most kick ass of the night for me were “Vigil” and “Descending.” “Black Label,” which actually was the last song of the evening, set of the crowd in the worst way with the Wall of Death. This fuckin’ thing came at everybody and when the shit hit the fan, so did the crowd. It fuckin’ hurt. It fuckin’ hurt like hell. Randy also took time out to thank their road crew which he praised as being their baby sitters and the people that make their show happen every night and I’ve got a feeling, he’s very much correct. Like I previously said, this was the best Lamb of God show I have ever witness and been a part of. The band also noted that they won’t be back touring until 2009 to go spend time with their families and get some much deserved rest. Well, rest up guys, we’ll be here waiting in the wings in the meantime. I’ll be at that first show, guaranteed!

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