In this post-Covid, post-Brexit England, tonight can be celebrated as the night it all came together for Lamb Of God and Kreator fans.
Prior to recent times, international bands have rolled through our island without hold-ups or delays. But nowadays, tours are coming up against logistical problems that can result in cancellations, withdrawals, or postponements. Tonight’s show – billed as the ‘State of Unrest’ tour – was originally due to take place in December 2021! A year later, as arrangements fell through once again, the rescheduled date was bumped from December 2022 to March 2023. After that, just as we all thought things were back on track, the tragic events at Brixton Academy caused a suspension of that venue’s music license, and the need to find an alternative location for a few thousand metalheads to lose their sh*t. Changes were made, and it is for that reason that I find myself walking up the long approach to London’s prestigious Wembley Area.
Size-wise, It’s a pretty significant upgrade for the headliners. Even with Kreator and Sylosis included on the bill, one might wonder if a band like Lamb Of God has the presence to fill up such a large space. I’m confident they do. The five-piece played a BLINDER of a headline set at UK’s Bloodstock festival last year, as did Kreator the year before – so, both bands have a proven track record of putting on a great show to a huge audience – and it really IS a huge audience. It seems the venue upgrade has allowed more people to pick up a ticket because the space is full enough to give Sylosis a warm welcome as they walk out onto the Wembley stage.
I’m conscious the UK five-piece may have an added challenge tonight. Many will be acknowledging them as a stand-in for the highly regarded Municipal Waste, who had to leave the tour early due to scheduling clashes. My concern is that the crowd may need to be “won over” by this early set dissolves as soon the roar that greets Worship Decay reverberates through the building. It’s likely I was among the minority holding that view. Maybe because, despite their “supergroup” credentials, (some of the band members share their duties with Architects, Conjurer, and Bleed From Within) I have to confess to not being familiar with Sylosis before tonight. With that being said, a bit of diligent listening on the train had built my anticipation to the point where it felt very satisfying to hear the chainsaw thrash of, I Sever and Calcified rip through the building. Both tracks lifted from 2020’s Cycle Of Suffering album and delivered with enough intensity to bury any disappointment about Municipal Waste’s absence.
A highlight for me is hearing Sylosis drop the new single, Deadwood, into the middle of the set. A track I’d only heard earlier in the day but one that had seared itself into my ears with its particularly deft guitar solo courtesy of vocalist and key figure, Josh Middleton.
Across the board, the calibre of musicianship on display is jaw-dropping, and Sylosis matches this with a confident delivery that pushes the songs in a crescendo towards the ultimate, uplifting chorus of Heavy Is The Crown. Heavy indeed!
The band leave the stage having done a great job. Spirits are high and I’m thirsty, so I head to the bar for an overpriced Wembley pint, which I bring back into the main arena so I can watch as the stage is dismantled and re-arranged for Kreator’s arrival.
Kreator are legends – and seeing their name emblazoned across the backdrop as it is hoisted into position brings a wave of admiration that compels me to raise my glass in a respectful toast. Last year, the German thrashers put out an excellent album – Hate Uber Alles – that left their contemporaries in the dust (Yes. I’m looking at you, Megadeth!), and as if to prove the potency of that record, Kreator open their set with all the savagery of the title track; which is a fine way to kickstart a circle pit before launching into the triumphant bombast of another equally strong track; Hail to the Hordes.
What follows is an hour-long masterclass on how to whip up a crowd into frenzied appreciation while paying tribute to the band’s legacy.
They mix anthems from their latter career – such as Enemy of God and the rousing, Satan is Real – with bona fide, decades-old, rampant classics. Tracks like Awakening of the Gods and Flag of Hate are rattled out with as much venom as they would have been when the musicians were younger and the songs were newly forged and fresh.
This unbounded enthusiasm is one of Kreator’s primary strengths. Guitarist/frontman, Mille Petrozza is absolutely committed to the level of showmanship required to draw an arena full of people into the band’s cause. “Wembley!” Mille commands with complete authority before sending the fans spinning into another mosh. “WE are THE KREATOR, and YOU are the Hordes of Chaos!” Matching this aplomb with some onstage theatrics, costumed demons, and plumes of smoke during the driving choruses of Phobia, it all adds up to an impressive show by a band who have clearly used their years of experience to create a dramatic, entertaining, and arena-sized, heavy metal spectacle. Tonight’s performance is reassurance that Kreator undoubtedly deserve their place as a top-tier thrash metal band. They have been fantastic.
Out in the concourse, I meet up with a friend and we chatter excitedly about what we’ve just seen. He had almost missed the entire show due to Wembley Area’s no-bag policy! He’d been frantically trying to find a cloakroom and ended up leaving his belongings with the friendly staff at a nearby pub. Top tip – Read the small print on your ticket, because the stewards at Wembley Arena won’t let you inside if you have a large bag or rucksack!
With two more pints inside us, we head back into the main space and take our places for the headlining act.
For a band whose career is built on aggressive power and uncompromisingly heavy riffs, Lamb of God begin their set on an unexpected, quiet rumination. Frontman, Randy Blythe croons the intro to Memento Mori as a silhouette from behind a large curtain that conceals the performers from view. As his vocals drift through the room like a fog, a sense of foreboding grows until the track eventually explodes, the curtain falls and we are launched into a full-on, attack mode performance.
As expected, Lamb of God look charged up and lively. Tonight marks the final night of this tour, but from where I am standing there is absolutely no sign of fatigue or a sense that anyone would be content to phone this one in. Randy stalks the stage as he spits his words into the microphone while the bass player, John Campbell, in particular, stands out as someone who looks to be immediately in his element.
There is supreme confidence onstage, and early in the set, we are reminded that Kreator aren’t the only heavy metal veterans on the line-up tonight. As the steady, machine-gun rhythm of Ruin plays out, I consider how the track has clocked itself up a double decade of crushing energy. Tonight it sounds just as potent as it ever has, and it sets the momentum for a track-by-track pile-drive into the hardest of heavy riff territory.
Walk With Me in Hell and Resurrection Man continue the charge and Ditch is the first song played from last year’s, Omens – the band’s newest record. It’s a pissed-off, angry gem that inspires a rowdy crowd sing-a-long as a gruff choir of voices join in with the opening refrain, “I don’t give a God-daaaaaamn!” It’s fire.
Speaking of which, there are points in the set where the music is punctuated by enormous jets of flame that shoot from the rear of the stage. Each one threatens to toast Art Cruz as he pummels around the kit. Undeterred, he drives each track forward, throwing in rapid bursts of double bass drum, accelerated tempos, or slowing things down to a muscular grind that gives the crowd something to REALLY dig into. An example of the latter would be the weighty verses of, Omerta which Randy introduces with menace, as he articulates the track’s familiar opening passage to the receptive audience.
After eleven banging tracks, the climactic moments of the set are of course reserved for the three-song encore. Vigil is where Lamb of God get to channel the might of Black Sabbath before charging into the song’s frenzied thrash section. This leads us towards the Ashes of the Wake album and the pinch-harmonic gallop of Laid to Rest.
The crowd take all the energy generated from the stage and turns it into a pit of flailing limbs and moving bodies. Headbangers and crowd surfers ensure that everything keeps on churning and that this does not let up as Lamb of God drops the song that we all know has been loaded into the barrel and cocked for release.
“This is a motherf*cking invitation!”
Redneck hits the bullseye. The song’s rolling groove captures the heavy sense of celebration in the room and gives everybody an extra push to enjoy the final moments of what has been a superb evening of heavy metal music. It’s been a long time coming. Many people have waited three years to finally get in a room and let off steam the way they have tonight, and Lamb of God have made good on their promise. At Wembley Arena, the State of Unrest has been an excellent success.
