Any day is a good day to be a metalhead, but it’s a great day when Slayer comes to town. On Wednesday, the most aggressive of the “Big Four” played at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, with Lamb of God and Behemoth.
Behemoth is a satanic heavy metal band from Poland with roots in black metal. The first noticeable aspect Behemoth is its theatrics. The band dresses like a modern version of death metal pioneers Mayhem: all black, white face paint with black accents and a look of utter brutality plastered across the band members’ faces for the duration of their performance. As the first act to take the stage, Behemoth set the bar pretty high for the rest of the bands in terms of stage presence and general intensity.
The next band to perform was Lamb of God. To be honest with you, I have never been a huge fan of their music. However, the group’s live performances are unparalleled to any metal show I have been to recently, and they have a much different energy than what comes across in their studio albums. For starters, the vocalist, Randy Blythe, is an absolute madman. It would be a conservative guess to say he was still for less than 5 percent of their set. His energy was incredible and the crowd ate it up. The rest of the band members didn’t have quite the same stage presence, but they made up for it with their musical abilities.
Finally, the main act, Slayer, began its performance. The band started out its set with a projection of crosses going from upright to upside down while the intro to the group’s latest album, Repentless, played. Just as the tension was coming to a peak, the curtain dropped to reveal the four band members. The first thing that caught my attention about the performance was the driving force that was the technical and powerful drumming of Paul Bostaph. Although the members of the band are getting older, they have obviously not slowed down at all. Slayer is as much a force to be reckoned with as they were in their heyday in the late ’80s.
If you have a positive regard for metal, do not miss these bands the next time they come to town.
Contact CU Independent Photojournalist Phil McKenzie at phillip.mckenzie@colorado.edu.
