Tuesday night, Laval hosted what was dubbed the Metal Tour of the Year. This headbanging machine included Sweden’s In Flames, and US’s Trivium, Lamb of God and Megadeth. If you felt a shiver just now, you are not alone. These are all mighty big names in their own right; assembled, they are an unstoppable force.
Unfortunately, because of a mix of time constraint and traffic jam, I missed In Flames. So I won’t write about their performance, except to say that everybody asked agreed that they were absolutely on fire (pun intended).
Last time I saw Trivium was at Heavy Montreal 2018, and it was one of the most electrifying shows of that edition of the festival, so expectations were high. Well, Matt Heafy and his merry band not only met, but surpassed those expectations. The tour was twice delayed because of the pandemic, and the band was HUNGRY. A hefty part of their performance was dedicated to their latest album, In the Court of the Dragon, but they still had time to play fan favourites too, like Beyond Oblivion and Rain. All in all they set the bar very high, but the juggernaut that is Lamb of God was coming next.
Three words to describe a Lamb of God show? Brutality, anger and intensity. LoG’s music pierces the brain to attack directly its most primitive part. Randy Blythe is a caged lion looking for a fault that would let him escape. Art Cruz beats his drum like a madman, setting the rhythm to their infernal dance. John Campbell, hair and beard flailing around, sends rumbling bass notes that get in every crack of the arena. The guitarists, Mark Morton and Phil Demmel (who stepped in for Millie Adler) emit sounds and riffs that should not be possible. Blythe, obviously, has the crowd in his hand, and when he asks for the “biggest m*therf*king circle pit that arena has ever seen”, he gets it. Lamb of God is like a crazed bulldozer that flattens everything in its path. When their performance was finished, many people were wondering how Megadeth were going to top that.
The simple answer is : They did not have to. Megadeth is simply on another level. Dave Mustaine and the band adopted a very different approach. Where Lamb of God were loud, brutal and in your face, Megadeth was subtle, imposing by their mere presence. If LoG shoots you in the face with a 12-gauge, Megadeth slices you with a fine blade. Far from being a nostalgia act, Megadeth has a very extensive back catalogue to choose from, but they also have very successful, and recent, albums to treat their fans with. The stage adorned with a simple, but very effective set of three screens on each side, the band played a well-balanced mix of old and new, from Dystopia to Peace Sells. If LoG had a never-ending mosh pit, Megadeth had the whole arena singing along for classics like A tout le monde, Symphony of Destruction and Holy Wars. Dave Mustaine simply has to lift his arms to have the crowd going wild.
Pairing those two bands was simply genius : fans were hit from every side, leaving the Place Bell KO, and ecstatic.
