Metal Up Your Ass Friday, Featuring Lamb of God. With Extra Idiocy!

Richmond, VA has produced some fantastic things over the years (Philip Morris smokes, VCU basketball), as well as some less fantastic things (Confederacy, tons of murders). One creation from Richmond that would fall into the "more fantastic" side of life is Lamb of God. Simplest description is that they are like Pantera, but heavier.

Lamb of God has their own tradition in concert. They play a song called "Black Label." As they lead into the song, the lead singer gets the entire crowd to retreat to the corners of the stage, form a wall of death and then charge into each other at full speed. It is just as awesome, terrifying and dangerous as it seems. Combine moshing meatheads, speed metal, alcohol, drugs and lots of sexual angst among young male misfits and you have total fucking chaos.

To truly capture the insanity, I'm including two live clips of the onslaughts. Below that I have a studio version of the song, which hauls. Enjoy this at your cube/office/desk.

Here's one composite video that captures the intensity of the moments a bit better. Go to the 1 minute, and then the 1:35 mark to see it go down a couple times.



This is a version done in a show in Athens, Greece. Like Citizen Dick, Lamb of God is huge in Belgium. Go to the 1:20 second mark to see the devastation unfold. Good to know their growls translate across the pond. Surprisingly, there are no moshers in scarves.



And here is a studio version, along with something resembling a video (warning: may give you a seizure), if you want to hear the audio with decent quality.