Year: 2021
Total Time: 71:37
Label: Nuclear Blast
Getting an album “recorded live” in 2021 may sound a little strange considering that concerts are still a thing of the recent past, but thanx to the technology evolution, even by staying in home, we had the chance to see some of our favorite bands performing “live” on stage. One of those band were LAMB OF GOD who did such an event last autumn and now have decided to release it on physical format.
As we all know, last June LAMB OF GOD released their newest studio album and obviously they didn’t have the chance to go out on tour in order to present it to their fans. So, on the 18th of September 2020, at their favorite place, at Richmond where they keep their studio, they did one online show where they played this new album in its whole entity in the same running order as in the album.
Now, they are releasing this show on CD/DVD, which includes all these songs plus a few more goodies and extra tracks. It includes a total of 16 songs, 14 of which are the complete tracklisting of the show we mentioned above, plus 2 extra songs, kind of new and these are “Ghost Shaped People” and “ Hyperthermic – Accelerate”. The first one could also be found in a couple of the limited editions of last years studio album and both can also be found in a recent 3 disc re-release that was published recently.
Getting in the true essence of things now, I am not sure how many things can be said here. As in most live shows nowadays, the image counts more, meaning that the DVD is more interesting here and the CD is probably going to be used in someone’s car stereo.
So, after the small dark introduction we already knew, “Memento Mori” starts to spread from the speakers with full force. If you ask my personal opinion, I like this version better than the studio one, probably because the drums sound more deep and natural, so the whole result is keener to my ears. The same applies for the rest of the first 10 songs and the only thing that the listener has to get used to, is the absence of screams and applauses in the breaks where you can mostly hear the members of the band talking to each other, something like an “expensive” or final rehearsal before a tour.
The second part includes 4 songs that LAMB OF GOD picked from their discography to complete this performance. These are τα «Contractor» from «Wrath”, «Ruin» from «Killadelphia», «512» from «VII: Sturm Und Drang” and last “The Death Of Us” which is included in the soundtrack of the movie “Bill & Ted Face The Music”, also released in 2020. This last, previously almost unreleased song is a very powerful song with a great chorus and breakdowns that I think really deserves a place in the bands future live playlists.
Towards the end, we have 2 studio tracks as we said, “Ghost Shaped People” starts with great power and goes on fast with a nice break before the chorus and “Hyperthermic – Accelerate” is much more close to the classic style of the band, not a bad tune, but I don’t see many things worth mentioning about it.
Summarizing, I have to say that this is a pretty interesting release in many ways. It presents live the whole latest album that actually hasn’t been played live yet before an also has some more interesting songs that I am sure the fans would love to have in their collection. Until the time is right to be safe for us to attend a live show and for the bands to take their position, where they belong, up on stage again, this release here is a very good alternative suggestion for 70 minutes of headbanging, even from the comfort of our homes.
Rating: N/A
Editor: Antonis Livanios
Related Link: LAMB OF GOD – Official Page
