The Heaviest Tour of the Year Brings Metal Legends Lamb of God & Killswitch Engage to Tampa for an Amazing Show – Photos and Feature on the Lamb of God Concert at the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheater in Tampa, FL 

Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage are two of the heaviest, hardest working bands in the metal scene, constantly working to please the fans with ceaseless touring and consistently putting out incredible new albums that end up being fan favorites (and i’m sure you know just how rare that is these days if you’ve ever heard someone complain about how “the earlier stuff was better”). Fresh off their successful tour with Megadeth, Lamb of God decided sleep is for the weak and is back yet again with another tour and another excellent new album Omens which will be released to the masses on October 7th. They decided to bring along their friends in Killswitch Engage, Baroness, and Suicide Silence for what quickly became the heaviest tour of the year.

Kicking off the festivities that night were the deathcore heroes in Suicide Silence. Fronted by ex-All Shall Perish frontman Eddie Hermida after the tragic passing of Mitch Lucker, the band has been going full steam ahead preparing their new album Remember…You Must Die. As soon as the band took to the stage and Eddie began to scream as the first notes of the opening song began, it felt like a full force sonic shotgun blast of metal, and the fans were all too happy to receive it. The gang gave us a taste of the upcoming new album by playing the single You Must Die, as well as some older stuff from their first (and most popular) album The Cleansing. They finished off their time with Disengage and You Only Live Once and departed from the stage as they thanked the roaring crowd.

Up next were Georgia natives Baroness, bringing their unique blend of harmonic melodies and sludgy screams to the audience. As John Baizley appeared on stage along with the rest of the band, they kicked things off with an older song The Sweetest Curse. The best way to describe the bands’ sound is like if Mastodon and The Melvins had a baby, and I mean that as the highest form of praise. What I really liked about the band’s live production as well is that they match the lighting on stage to the corresponding color of the album its played from, which is a neat little inclusion. After playing a few more songs from their older albums including Isak, Kerosene and March to the Sea, they finished their time on stage with Seasons from their latest album Silver & Gold and bid the audience farewell while the next band’s techs got to work.

After the crew finished setting up the stage, the lights dimmed and the opening part of Van Halen’s Jump began to play over the speakers as Jesse, Adam and the rest of Killswitch Engage appeared on stage. Kicking off the night with Strength of the Mind, the band played flanked by a giant backdrop of their latest album Atonement and a huge rack of LED screens and lights that produced a sizzling visual show. What I enjoyed about this particular set is that the band played a lot of older songs, including classics like The Rose of Sharyn, My Curse, Daylight Dies and The End of Heartache, which the audience particularly enjoyed, screaming back every word almost as loud as the band. Jesse and Adam engaged in some funny banter with the crowd as usual, and even played a cover of Ronnie James Dio’s Holy Diver. And they had an even bigger treat in store for the encore, where the guys brought out the old lead singer for Killswitch Engage, Howard Jones, to perform A Signal Fire along with Jesse, which absolutely blew the minds of the audience who did not see that coming. After that amazing encore, the band thanked the crowd and the long wait for Lamb of God began.

Finally, as the lights dimmed for the final time and Lamb of God’s logo began to be projected on the large black drapery covering the stage, Randy appeared behind the curtain singing the opening part to Memento Mori. As the curtain dropped and a large BANG sounded out, the rest of the band appeared on the stage and broke into their explosive guitar parts. The group was on tour supporting their new album Omens but they also played plenty of older songs like Walk With Me In Hell and Now You Have Something To Die For. The stage setup was extremely impressive, with pyrotechnics shooting out behind the band during certain songs and intricate lighting setups for each song. The group was as tight and on point as ever, and Randy jumped around the stage like a madman, swinging his long dreads around while screaming the lyrics. The setlist was very varied and had something for every fan of the band, and they played songs from almost every album they have ever put out. They finished their time on stage with their most popular song, Redneck, and departed to a clamoring crowd that was hungry for an encore…which unfortunately did not happen. But you know what they say…its better to leave the stage when they want more than when they’ve had too much, that way they’ll come back next time! And I hope they wont keep us waiting too long, because I cant wait to see them perform again.