James’ review: Megadeth / Lamb of God / Children of Bodom / Sylosis – Braehead Arena, Glasgow (11th November 2015)

[avatar user=”James” size=”50″ align=”left” /]It’s pretty rare that a lineup this intense comes round on a tour. Having a double header of two pretty legendary bands with 2 equally able supports is a tour that is going to be hitting some big venues. Tonight’s venue is no exception with the Braehead arena holding a quoted ‘5,200 people’. It didn’t feel like there was ‘that’ amount there but I’d put an estimate at around 3,500 people. That’s still a heck of a lot of people for a concert.

Sylosis

Opening up the evening at the stupidly early time of 6pm were English metallers Sylosis. Playing a mixture of thrash and modern metal, the band delivered a good set which warmed up those early enough to catch them on stage. It’s a shame that they played so early, if they would have started slightly later they might have got a bigger crowd. There were also some sound issues, with the singers guitar being super quiet when he was soloing. They are coming back with Decapitated next year however, so they should have a decent draw and hopefully better sound. (7/10)

Children of Bodom 192 2Children of Bodom (flickr set)

Up next were Finnish metallers, Children of Bodom. Opening with three slightly slower songs from their newer albums, it seemed as though the set was going to be rather tame from them. That all changed when they launched into what I think was “Hate Crew Deathroll”. That got a huge cheer from the crowd and a suitably large mosh-pit started which spanned a good portion of the middle of the crowd. Finishing their set with better-known songs, the band delivered a cracking set and suitably warmed everyone up for the impending pummeling from the next band. (8/10)

Lamb of God, Braehead ArenaLamb of God (flickr set)

Next up at the rink were American metal heavyweights, Lamb of God. With this being the first time I had ever seen them, I had high expectations given the stories I’d heard from friends. Exploding onto stage, the band immediately pulled out all the stops to get the crowd raging along to their music. Playing a set compromised of newer material alongside fan favorites such as “Redneck” and “Black Label”, they delivered a blinding set and caused some of the biggest mosh-pits I’ve ever seen. By the end of the set, a vast majority of the fans were raging in the pit or head banging along, a testament to how well Randy can work a crowd. (10/10)

Photo by Carly Campbell
Photo by Carly Campbell

Megadeth

Finally, it was time for the stars of the night to come to the stage. Coming on slightly late, they wasted no time in getting straight into playing the classics. “Peace Sells”, “Holy Wars”, “Hanger 18” you name it they played it. Aside from “Rust in Peace…. Polaris”. I wanted that one. Having a slightly mushy sound probably did a favor to Mustaine as it meant that we sometimes couldn’t hear him struggling to sing despite the songs being in a lower key than normal. That’s not to slate the guy, that stuff’s not easy to sing. The bass was sometimes not audible either which was a shame when it came to the bass solos.

“Fatal Illusion”, from the upcoming album Dystopia, got an outing and seemed to go down well. I personally think it sounded better live than it did on the recording but that’s just my opinion. As Mosh stated, their set simply wasn’t long enough for them to play all the classics, which was a shame. Maybe they should do a Metallica and play for two and half hours next time… (9/10)

Mosh’s review of the gig is here.

All photos by Carly Campbell

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