Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Galleries: Slayer, Lamb of God, Behemoth
If you were in the mood for some nice easy listening rock last Tuesday, you should have stayed the f-ck away from the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion. Slayer brought their Repentless World Tour by with guests Lamb of God and Behemoth.
Behemoth was out first to open up the show. The Polish death metal band puts on quite a show with their intricate stage costumes and makeup and intense lyrics that skew towards Satanist themes. They had a short set, playing “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer” and “Messe Noire” from their insanely well received 2014 album The Satanist along with a mix of some of their older hits.
Lamb of God was up next, and I love these guys. The Pavilion did not seem set up quite correctly for this show, with assigned seating and no place for a mosh pit. Lead vocalist Randy Blythe said as much: “The seats were not my idea”. However, there was limited moshing going on in the open areas off to the sides of the seated areas.
Randy introduced the song “Still Echos” as “about a gated community I once spent some time in.” This refers his stint in Prague’s Pankrác Prison. In a Rolling Stone article he refers to the first lyric of the song: “A thousand heads cut clean across their necks
right down the hall from me,” which sounds like another over-the-top metal lyric, but it’s not. It actually happened when the Nazis were in control of the prison. Give the song a listen it’s pretty intense.
One funny moment was when LoG started to play the opening riff from Slayer’s “South of Heaven,” and the crowd went wild. Randy joked that Slayer was going to be pissed when they played their hits before they made it to the stage.
Slayer was up next. These guys launched the thrash metal genre with their intense aggressive lyrics and insanely fast guitar riffs. I’m embarrassed to say that this is actually the first time I’ve ever seen them live. Their set was insane. They didn’t stick too much to their most recent studio album, Relentless, but jumped all around their catalog of hits, including two of my favorites that you should go listen to right now: “South of Heaven” and “Raining Blood“.
The stage effects were incredible. Several flame throwers where set up all around the stage that were sometimes timed in short bursts to play along with the music. In effect, the fire was an extension of the rhythm section.
There could not have been a more intense night of music. If you are in the mood to go bang your head, get out and see this show. If you’d rather listen to a ballad or a touching love song, stay the f-ck away.
Slayer, Lamb of God, and Behemoth at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA
