Lamb of God holds a concert in San Antonio
Concerts and the culture that they bring have always been something I’ve enjoyed, so when I was given the opportunity to see metal band Lamb of God in San Antonio with my father, we were ready to go. Playing alongside the headliners were the bands Fit for an Autopsy (FFAA), Animals as Leaders and Killswitch Engage. Each band brought their “A game” and gave the city a great show.
The opening was FFAA, a New Jersey-based deathcore band, who I was unfamiliar with so I was a little skeptical, but I am glad to say they blew me away. The guttural vocals performed by Joe Badolato were the perfect mix of high and low. It was obvious that he had perfected his style of screaming. His voice accompanied his band, consisting of amazing drums that you could feel in your gut from the powerful rhythms and their low sounding guitars and bass that made everything complete.
Next up to perform was Animals as Leaders and they were not that great compared to the opening act. Though completely different genres of music, Animals as Leaders brought a different energy that I was not interested in now. I was also unfamiliar with this group and quickly learned that this Washington D.C.-based band is an instrumental progressive metal band.
I am not one to usually turn away a new band to discover but, in that moment, I wanted to headbang, wanted to thrash around and Animals as Leaders did not make me feel that way. Do not get me wrong, they did not play bad music at all, they were a weird choice to tour with and should have opened instead of FFAA.
Luckily, the next band brought back the energy with Killswitch Engage. This Massachusetts-based metalcore band opened with making us laugh by playing Van Halen’s “Jump” while screaming at us “I get drunk!” instead of “I get up.”
These musicians knew what to do as they never lost the crowd, every single song they played nobody lost energy and moshed like there was no tomorrow. I was surprised when they did a cover of the late Ronnie James Dio’s song “Holy Diver” which was executed well.
But Killswitch Engage was only warming us up for what was about to happen with Lamb of God. I can only describe their set as amazing, with every song wanting me to get up and thrash like nobody was watching me. I have nothing bad to say about Lamb of God; they always play great no matter where they go, the whole experience was something I will never forget, and I am glad I was able to see it with my father.
