Lamb of God, Decapitated and Huntress

@ Brixton Academy, London

18th January 2014

Review by Ashlinn Nash

Photography by  Graham Hilling

Brixton tonight is buzzing with anticipation for one of their favourite bands, from the crowd outside winding around the venue adorned in shirts displaying albums from the critically acclaimed “Ashes of the wake” to the most recently released “Resolution”. To the crowd at the bar deep in discussion over what tracks they would like to hear.
The night begins with Huntress [3.5/5]; a female-fronted four piece from California.

The band so far have released two studio albums with another in the works, it is no wonder they are the band everyone is talking about.

Bounding onto stage is the warrior woman of a front woman Jill Janus, creates a instantly an aura and persona that resonates, appeals and draws the crowd in.

Delivering their slick tunes with vocal lines that fall somewhere between cowering whispers right up to barbaric baritones, her range is notably impressive and engaging. With a range of musical back drops sounding like that of all too familiar NWOBHM pioneers ; Iron Maiden, combined with the styling of Doro-esque vocals, lavished in generous helpings of almost power thrash drumming and galloping bass lines.

Not to forget the sultry track “I wanna fuck you to death” which was co-wrote by Lemmy  for Huntress themselves.
The band are impressive with a strong rhythm section commanded by the two lead guitarists and, proven by the end of the set riff lords Blake Meahl and Anthony Crocamo sublime delivers blended perfectly.

The crowd are officially pumped, pints in hand and more vocal screams of excitement, with chants and demands from them, it’s becoming clear that this is going to be a fun crowd for Lamb of God to play for.

As the final cords of venues speakers ring with the sounds of rock legends Kiss, a bustle of excitement over the new in place banner for Decapitated [4/5] depicting “From pain to strength”.

As singer Rafał “Rasta” Piotrowski walked on stage for pre-performance sound check couldn’t help himself but to pump the audience up by causing a sing a long rendition of “Walk” by Pantera, naturally the sold out venue sang along.

The key to knowing how to be a good stage performer is when to come on and dazzle the crowd before you. So after walking away for what seemed the shortest ten minute break, Decapitated with this in mind, knew exactly when to return to stage to deliver a set of Pure propulsion, fuelled with energy whilst creating a dynamic stage performance giving the crowd suffering in silence for only a short while the set they were after.

The troupe from Poland worked through a set of well known amongst others that were not as high up on the popularity scale – only to those die hard fans of the bands. Still the Dreaded front man performed the adrenaline chasing tracks with sublime energy and prowess. By the end of the set with songs such as “Spheres of madness” and “Day 69” the jack hammer speeds and constant moshing wore the crowd out.

A superb triumph of intense sounds, classic hooking lines, slick energy and babaric vocal demands against the renowned sound of the band all served up with ballistic and brutal integrity.

After a delay, Lamb of God [4/5] arrive on stage, to a raised drum kit, noticeably a very minimal stage show of a few banners dotted around, a raised platform for good measure too. Making plenty of room for the band to move about and use the stage, focusing on the music side of performance rather than dramatics.

Opening up with the screamingly powerful “”Desolation” the second track from newest release ; “Resolution”. After being worn out by the previous bands Randy and the boys soon kicked it up a notch with music sprinklings injected with energetic waves, that swamped the crowd. Whilst prowling on stage like a demonic creature, delivering tracks such as “Omerta”, “Now you’ve got something to die for”, “Black Label” amongst others.

The band are on form and show the crowd tonight why they are as highly demanded as they are, unfortunately the band were a man down this evening as Blythe’s dynamic banter turned to serious matters, expaling that Mark Morton wouldn’t be there as “family comes first, we have however got the legendary guitarist from between the buried and me to fill in”, who does a superb job of filling his shoes.

After completing a set, that every audience member will remember for a long time which was dedicated to the country Lamb of God first toured outside their homeland of the USA. From then they grew strength and despite ups and downs with the world outside of music, the band have been back with vengeance since.

The UK itself being blessed with the band performing a beautifully crushing set at Bloodstock, here tonight returning with two bands worthy of being supports made an impression that gives them the worthy title of fantastic performers within the genre.

Set list:
Desolation
Ghost Walking
Walk with Me in Hell
Hourglass
Set to Fail
Now You’ve Got Something to Die For
The Undertow
Omerta
Ruin
In Your Words
Encore:
Vigil
Laid to rest
Redneck
Black Label