Lamb of God, Heriot

On Saturday night Norwich’s LCR was shook to the core as metal legends Lamb of God detonated onto stage. The heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia are currently touring and Norwich was blessed with their explosive presence this weekend as the band brought their heavy ‘everyman’ angst to the packed venue. This band, who find themselves associated alongside other legendary metal names like Slipknot and Megadeth, found themselves equally as at home in Norwich’s LCR venue, bringing such a spark that incited Norwich’s most avid metal fans. Lamb of God truly are the chief engineers in the eruptive New Wave of American Heavy metal and this night of metal mania certainly lived up to my high expectations.

The night began with support band Heriot occupying the crowd- Heriot are a British metal band who certainly knew how to ignite the extremely short fused crew of metal-heads crammed into the venue, getting heads banging in no time at all. Their set was an awesome cacophony of their most popular songs, each a concoction of heavy riffs and piercing vocals. I wasn’t too familiar with Heriot prior to this gig, but I really loved their vibe and would love to see them play again in Norwich.

Heriot

Heriot

Following Heriot’s meteoric performance, the crowd’s anticipation had accelerated tenfold. This was one thing I noticed from Lamb of God’s fan base - they have such a huge presence and a certain unmatched energy that was just so tangible that it’s impossible to resist getting swept into the mosh pit.

As Lamb of God took the stage by storm, their brutal energy was established from the outset. Their first song ‘Memento Mori’ immediately initiated their performance as one of my favourite gigs in a long time, as the LCR came alive to a level I’d never seen before. Lead vocalist Randy Blythe had such a unique stage presence, instantly captivating the crowd and elevating them to his level of almost animalistic energy. Their set continued with songs including ‘Walk with me through hell’ and ‘Omens’, each song an angsty representation of everything new wave metal could and should be.