As iconic as the El Paso County Coliseum built in 1942 were the just as iconic bands that performed their last Sunday night. Lamb of God and Mastodon with opening bands Malevolence and Kerry King. The coliseum was buzzing with young and old ready to hear legends of the rock world perform. Two bands had never performed here but we will get to that later. Cut off sleeveless jean jackets with band patches, white & black face paint, black leather clad boots and short tight shirts seem to be the attire for the evening.
Malevolence, formed in Sheffield, England, back in 2010 opened the night with their hardcore metal core style causing everyone in the place to get plenty of neck exercises in for what the crowd was going to experience for the rest of the night. They started the night off with “Malicious Intent” from their 2022 album by the same name, they wrapped up their night with “On Broken Glass” from the same album.
The band lead vocally by Alex Taylor and his musical support of Josh Baines - lead guitar, backing vocals, Konan Hall – rhythm guitar, co-lead vocals, Wilkie Robinson – bass and Charlie Thorpe – drums. These guys were pumped to be back in El paso performing again and really got the crowd going, warming them up for the powerhouse groups to come after them.
Their unique style and beatdown hardcore, punk metal sound can also be heard on three albums and two LP that can be found on the following links:
Kerry King, legendary guitarist from Slayer fame has set the hard rock world on fire with the introduction of his new band, self-titled Kerry King. After Slayer's final performance in 2019 King took some time off to write more material and start is solo career, this year he introduced his new band and has jumped on the tour with Mastodon and Lamb of God. Performing songs that he wrote for Slayer plus adding his new style of Kerry King sound to the list of songs under their belt they hit the stage running. With power players joining him on stage are DEATH ANGEL singer Mark Osegueda, longtime SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph, former HELLYEAH bassist Kyle Sanders, and ex-MACHINE HEAD and VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel.
They have already released their first album titled, “From Hell I Rise” with songs like “Diablo” and “From Hell I Rise.” During their performance they played those songs from the album plus two former Slayer songs, “Raining Blood and “Black Magic. As powerful as their performance was, they were a great opening to the next two bands that hit the stage that night. It will be exciting to see what else they come up with and I feel a second album will be in the works soon after they finish their current tour. I feel we have a lot of new stuff coming down the pipe from these guys as they keep hardcore Rock alive.
Mastodon, heavy metal legends that formed in 2000, actually made their debut, finally, in El Paso, Tx, they stated that of all the places they had performed in their 24 years El Paso was never on the list. They showed the city what they thought of finally performing there, bringing heavy metal mayhem to the coliseum. The crowd went wild, jumping, shouting, head banging to every beat. Every human being from miles around was in the arena to hear Troy Sanders on bass and vocals, Bill Kelliher on rhythm guitar, Brent Hinds, on lead guitar, and Brann Dailor on drums perform their album, “Leviathan” released in 2004.
“Leviathan” Mastodon second album was released in 2004 at the same time Lamb of Gods album “Ashes of the Wake” was released. There is a story told that both albums showed up on store shelves next to each other, which 20 years later created the current Ashes of Leviathan Tour with both bands performing those two albums in their entirety.
Mastodon pulled out all the stops when it came to putting on an amazing show from vivid graphic video displays, shooting fire, and a laser show that stretched across the arena ceiling. There is no end in sight for this group, they are still bringing the real deal to the stage every night.
If you're interested in following up on Mastodon you can find them in the following links:
Lamb of God formed in 1994 as Burn the Priest has rocked the heavy metal world for 30 years nonstop, releasing their first album, “Burn the Priest” in 1999. To avoid being mistaken for a satanic metal band they had changed their name to Lamb of God when releasing the album “New American Gospel” in 2000. Nine studio albums later their last being, “Omen” in 2022, has given the band a solid reason for being called legendary. Though many band member changes, court cases, members injured and accidents and death, the core of Lamb of God has lived on to make them a strong thrash, punk, sludge, death metal band.
When the curtain dropped and Lamb of God started to perform the whole coliseum erupted in cheers, screaming and crowd surfing. The security upfront were constantly busy as they escorted the surfers out of the pit. The video and light show was amazing, fire flashing and strobes bouncing around the building. These guys know how to wake a crowd up. With 30 years of music behind them, these guys are as relevant as any new school band out there, they let you know that thrash punk metal is going strong and it was alive in El Paso Sunday night. “Ashes of the Wake” album never sounded so good as it did that night. With the tour almost over, I would say the Ashes of Leviathan tour is a complete success.
You want to relive the days when heavy metal was king and it was cool to be a rocker follow these links to find out more about the Lamb of God legacy.
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