It’s a cold and frigid Texas evening in Dallas and only 2 days ago, people were scrambling to purchase their last minute gifts for their significant others for Valentine’s Day. Probably a few of those same people were left scuttling to find no available tickets for the sold out Lamb of God show at the new Palladium Ballroom near downtown Dallas. This was the first stop in their 7-week jaunt, bringing along Frenchmen Gojira, metal stalwarts Machine Head, and the Florida-based Trivium.
Gojira opened the show to an eager crowd and while many are just discovering this Bayonne, France export, the band has been plugging along in the French underground metal scene for 10 years now. LOG frontman Randy Blythe invited them on the tour after becoming a big fan of their newest record From Mars to Sirius. While only doing a 6-song set, it was enough to get the pit going and definitely set the tone for the evening. Think of a spacier Mastodon with lots of solid riffing between both guitar players. I can see a definite slot on an Ozzfest or Sounds of The Underground stage for sure.
Calfornia’s Machine Head came up next, delivering a strong set with new songs from their upcoming release “The Blackening” and great mixture of songs from their extensive catalog. Never having seen this influential band before, I was excited to see them at work. The crowd was quite responsive, obeying Robert Flynn’s every demand. They closed their set by dedicating “Aesthetics of Hate” to the memory of Dimebag Darrell, which of course had everyone feeling quite sentimental (remember this is Pantera country after all). Overall, their influence among many bands in heavy metal was definitely heard.
What can I say about Trivium? They seem to be the darlings of the metal scene in Europe but they still haven’t quite gotten to that level here. What I can say is that they love, and I mean Love Metallica. From wearing their own band t-shirts to the familiar James Hetfield stances done by frontman Matt Heafy; they walk the line between being a credible rock band or a very good cover band at your local dive. Now, to the band’s credit, they are all solid musicians and have the definite stage presence needed for a metal band but the downfall is their overbearing admiration of Metallica hinders them from becoming a band all their own.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
GOjira sounds cool, I have become a big fan of Mastodon. I have seen Machine Head a few times, and while their albums are inconsistent, they always put on a killer live show.
Now for Trivium... I really liked the Ascendancy album, but the new one feels like they took a few steps back and let the Metallica influences come through way to strongly, they should be paying the Mighty Met royalties.
I would love to see Lamb of God live, they are a sick band.
2 - max
triviums are not that big metallica fan you dont know anything about em i guess they just did a master of puppets cover and sometimes heafy got a metallica t-shirt ... listen to some ascedency and tell me wheres metallica?
3 - James Noble
I saw this show in Sioux Falls, SD. Biggest suprise? Gojira is awesome. I've started listening to their music and it rocks. I also agree on Redneck, great song. As for Trivium being Metallica fans, they are, they know that. But they are not a flash in the pan. They are only on their third album, are very young, and their sound is still changing and getting better. (They are the reason I saw the show in the first place.)
4 - Jason Burney
Lamb of God didnt start with Walk With Me In Hell, they started with Hourglass. Jerry, if you are going to write a review, at least make it factual.
5 - acid
jeff is trying to sing more like james in metallica. Like I'm a due hard fan of metallica, but we already have metallica, not saying I hate trivium, they were good before he started singing that way