Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage Entertainment Art Congress Theater Chicago, Ill. December 05, 2007

Lamb of God a relative new comer to the metal scene (formerly known as Burn the Priest) have skyrocketed in popularity, proudly earning them a Grammy nomination. They came to the blood sponge Congress Theater, its filthy halls echoing the terrific screeching of Randy Blythe. The bass you could hear a block away. Unfortunately, once closer to the stage the screeching didn’t become any clearer. Something was definitely wrong with the sound guy’s sense of vocal acoustics as suggested by a large consortium of concert goers. Even with the lyrics not being clear and concise (hey, it is Metal we’re talking about) Lamb of God certainly made up for it by putting on a hell of a performance. “Walk With Me In Hell” and “Ruin” reinforced the sheer power of this band. “Pathetic” with its driving rhythm and reverberating sound, beat across the enormous room like a schizophrenic jackhammer in a bad mood.

The band then took a few moments to plug their upcoming album due out some time in “09” that will “Put your dick in the dirt” as eloquently put by Mr. Blythe. In a nod to the Chicago metal scene, Randy introduced a member of the band “Broken Hope” and announced a reunion of the obscure death metal group coming soon.

“Blacken the Curse of the Sun” started the crowd moving, yet there was still an absence of any real moshing. The tightness of the audience made it difficult for anyone to move, let alone stomp around. There was also an abundance of women in the crowd going wild (no, not that wild) and bodysurfing. “Omerta” finally pushed the buttons of the crowd to the point where not moshing would be an insult to the band and squeezed some good digs into each other. The majority of the people still stood lankly gazing into some other universe just beyond the stage.

A lengthy break allowed the ears some room to ring and before ya know it Killswitch is announced. The crowd swells forward and along came the boys with their hundred pound guitars forcing them to lean back as a good metal guitarist’s do. Howard Jones and Justin Foley joined up with the band in “Blood Has Been Shed” and have certainly helped to shoot “End of Heartache” into every metal collection, gain them an Emmy nomination (just like Lamb of God) and debut the album at #21 on the billboard top 200. The crowd’s reaction to Jones is spectacular. His stage presence is highly energetic, almost bouncing off the walls at points.

They began with “Bid Farewell” an amazing song that is obviously one of the biggest hits off of “End of Heartache”. The title track off their latest release “As Daylight Dies” impressed but did not take anyone’s breath away. “Breathe Life” astounded as Jones went from his raging growl to into the immaculate chorus that gives the song such a great hook.

In “Unbroken” and “This is Absolution” was lacking, unfortunately most of the songs on the latest album where not exactly what the crowd was looking for. Luckily “When Darkness Falls” came on next with a vengeance. Jones then found time to instruct the crowd to prepare for the “Wall of Love” as he called it. He had everyone give each other a great big “hug” in the middle of the hall. This went on for about a song, yet still the thickness of the crowd quickly stifled attempts at the ultra-violence. “Rose of Sharyn” satisfied with its pulsing beat and well constructed guitar arrangement.

One by one the mothers and their underage metal-heads started filing out along with several others. I suppose four hours of metalcore can be a bit much. Finally “My Last Serenade” and “The End of Heartache” put this show to bed. Killswitch just couldn’t leave without first playing their comically entertaining cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver”.

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Great Review Written by Guest on 2007-12-19 13:33:22

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