Can you believe that it has been 20 years since Lamb of God’s ‘Ashes of the Wake’ and Mastodon’s ‘Leviathan’ were released? You’ve heard the saying time flies and it does, especially when you get older. Lamb of God addressed the Portland crowd and stated that “We’ve been talking with Mastodon for a few years about doing this and now we are.” Both acts are headliners on their own and they give the fans a little variety with Lamb of God being a more ‘extreme’ groove oriented act that has filled the void left when Pantera disbanded. Mastodon on the other have a heavy, sludgey, melodic and progressive act that has broad appeal to fans of various rock subgenres.
I completely missed Malevolence due to onsite parking traffic and then encountering a slight issue with my ticket. The lady at will call was very nice but she couldn’t locate my ticket! “I’ve heard your name all day. I know we needed to get you a ticket! We’ll find it, don’t you worry,” she said. That’s well and good but I could hear that the support act was already on stage. With that ‘Spial Tapesque’ moment out of the way I head to the venue. The Moda Center for this particular show was configured in the ‘Theater of The Clouds’ configuration which seats 3K to 6.5K concertgoers. We had a 6.5K setup this evening. I caught the last tune of the Malevolence set. Bummer.
The crew quickly moved gear off the stage getting things ready for Kerry King who released his first solo album this spring ‘From Hell I Rise.’ As expected King and Company delivered an intense, evil and vicious set. Their backdrop and stage set consisted of inverted crosses and lots of fog, red lighting. Kerry King band is made up of Death Angel (?) frontman Mark Osegueda, former (?) Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph, guitarist Phil Demmel (Vio-Lence) and bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah). The material went over well, in my opinion, but the pit was somewhat subdued and Osegueda really tried to get the crowd going but the pit just wasn’t happening. Don’t get me wrong the crowd went crazy and there was the frenzied reaction that you’d expect, just not as extreme as I would have hoped. Then again, look at me sitting in the upper deck and not in the pit! The standouts were “Where I Reign,” “Trophies of the Tyrant,” “Toxic,” and “From Hell I Rise” from the debut album. On this tour fans have been treated to two Slayer classics, the Slayer staple “Raining Blood” and the deeper cut “Black Magic.” We got “Raining Blood” and “Black Magic” was dropped due to time constraints. While it would have been great to hear “Black Magic” in the set, it didn’t matter, this was a solid performance.
Who would have thought that Atlanta, Georgia would have spawned an act like Mastodon, known for their progressive sludge metal sound. Mastodon are performing their 2004 album ‘Leviathan’ from top to bottom. The crowd was already going nuts and the only thing they could see was the ‘Mastodon’ logo on a gigantic black curtain that covered the stage. Troy Sanders, Brent Hinds, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor are intense performers who have mastered their instruments over the course of their careers. They are top notch at what they do and the Portland crowd let them know it by roaring through the entire performance. I can’t tell how many times I have heard ‘Leviathan’ but the song “Blood And Thunder” never seems to get old to me. Mastodon squeezed three tunes into their encore which included, “More Than I Could Chew,” “Circle of Cysquatch” and “Steambreather.”
After another intermission it was time for Richmond, Virginia’s groove metal reigning kings Lamb of God. The band scorched the PDX audience with the performance of their 2004 masterpiece ‘Ashes of The Wake’ top to bottom. Portland, Oregon loves LOG; they’ve sold out the much smaller Roseland several times over the years. On this night there were some empty seats in the upper deck. Perhaps trying to sell out ‘Theater of The Clouds’ was a bit ambitious but ¾ of it was pretty respectable.
The fans went berserk for each and every song performed by frontman Randy Blythe, guitar duo of Mark Morton and Willie Adler, the anchor John Campbell on bass and not so newcomer Art Cruz on drums. Their delivery of the album was simply superb. How could you go wrong with ‘Ashes of the Wake?’ With timeless songs like “Laid to Rest,” “Hourglass” and “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For,” you can simply do no wrong. Once they completed the performance of ‘Ashes’ they aimed to crush whoever was still in the buildings with two classics “Walk With Me in Hell” and “Redneck,” which were just icing on the cake. The pit was insane, perhaps the attendees were simply pacing themselves earlier during the Kerry King set? Things ended in pummeling fashion. Not many vacated the building before Blythe and Company took their final bow and gave one final ‘thank you’ to the fans before the lights dimmed.