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Review: Lamb of God/Kreator/Municipal Waste, O2 Academy
“Fuck – it’s cold in here!” exclaims Tony Foresta. He’s not wrong. It’s only marginally warmer here in the Academy than out there in the snow. Still, Municipal Waste quickly get things warmed up.
Despite hailing all the way from Richmond, Virginia (hometown of tonight’s headliners Lamb of God too), these second-generation ‘party thrashers’ have got something of a love affair going on with Bristol. Last time they were on this very stage, just five months ago with Anthrax, they stuck around in town and played an unofficial show at the Golden Lion on Gloucester Road the following night.
is needed now More than ever
We know pretty much what to expect from the quintet now: crunchy riffage and frantic drumming with barked vocals and plenty of humour (Headbanger Face Rip, The Thrashin’ of the Christ).
Although the Wasters’ natural habitat is the packed and sweaty club, Foresta whips this sold-out Academy audience into such a frenzy during Wave of Death that security have their work cut out intercepting all the crowd surfers, dragging body after body out of the melee.
Not bad going for the first act on a three-band bill and a portent of what’s to come. They finish, as usual, with Born to Party with its big audience participation chant: “Municipal Waste are gonna fuck you up!”
Arguably, Kreator’s misfortune is to come from Essen rather than California, which may have hampered their career as one of the founders of thrash metal. But unlike some of their peers, these guys don’t do radio-friendly – placing them at the Slayer end of the thrash spectrum.
They roar straight in to the title track from current album Hate Über Alles, co-founding vocalist/guitarist Mille Petrozza having lost none of his fire after 41 years of thrashing.
Being European rather than American also confers some advantages, since they’re well placed to pay attention to the latest developments at the cutting edge of metal. Hail to the Hordes, for example, could have sprung from the Amon Amarth songbook.
Things really begin to gel mid-set with the mighty Satan Is Real, driven by a massive Petrozza riff and a great guitar solo by Sami Yli-Sirniö. Perched atop his massive kit, Jürgen Reil’s precision drumming maintains the relentless pace as the career-spanning set stretches all the way back to 1985’s Endless Pain album. One cannot help but fear, however, that Flag of Hate is ripe for misinterpretation in these super-touchy, cancel culturey times.
They finish, as usual, with Pleasure to Kill, Petrozza quipping that “This is your last chance to kill one another!” as a huge circle pit swallows up the thrashing hordes.
When Mark Morton played that unlikely acoustic show aboard the Thekla back in January 2020, he assured us that his “other band” would be back in a couple of months at the Academy. Three long years and multiple postponements later, Lamb of God are finally making good on his promise. Their previous show at the Academy, back in 2014, must rank as one of the most riotous the venue has hosted. Tonight they seem keen to top that. Three songs in, Randy Blythe is thrashing his dreadlocks on the stage during Walk With Me in Hell and the entire dancefloor erupts into a seething mass of moshing bodies.
Unlike Kreator, these guys don’t go in for stage props; it’s all about the visceral thrill of the full metal racket, melding band and audience. And few acts can touch them in this league right now. John Campbell might rock the Old Father Time look these days, but his bass is in lockstep with drummer Art Cruz, who’s clearly a very able replacement for the departed Chris Adler.
Morton, who appears to have spent lockdown cultivating an even bushier beard, remains one of the most under-rated talents in metal, effortlessly trading complex riffs and licks with Willie Adler. And Randy Blythe completely commands the stage, striding back and forth, scaling the drum riser and headbanging ferociously throughout. His paintstripping vocals have never sounded better too.
As before, Randy namechecks local punk/metal pioneers Amebix, whose influence far exceeded their meagre record sales. Who’d have thunk these squat-dwelling 1980s Bristol crust-punks were being listened to so avidly across the pond by the next generation of metal musos?
Like Kreator, LoG opt for a career-spanning setlist, with plenty of deliriously received classics to remind us why they enjoyed such a meteoric ascent and just a couple of songs from the recent Omens album.
Highlights include the pummelling Now You’ve Got Something to Die For and the climactic, Grammy-nominated Redneck – the song with which they staked their claim to metal greatness back in 2006. Let’s hope they don’t leave it another nine years before returning.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: March 2023
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