Ashes of Leviathan Tour ft. Lamb of God + Mastodon w/ Kerry King & Malevolence
Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO – 08/29/2023
It seems anniversary tours are the “in” thing right now. In fact, anniversary merchandising is going bananas. Sure, there are some great titles out there worthy of milestone anniversary merchandising. Twenty-five, twenty, and even ten-year anniversary milestones should be celebrated, sure. When greedy labels are shoving “5-year anniversary” merchandising down our gullets, I have to draw the line. Swimming, Beauty Behind The Madness, I’m looking at you. Get the fuck out. Like seriously.
But I digress. This article looks at the 20th anniversary tour for two of metal’s freshest ‘classics’: Lamb of God’s “Ashes of the Wake” and Mastodon’s “Leviathan“. With two albums that still hold up incredibly well on-listen, I wonder if the musicians behind the albums can still pull ’em off live with the same energy they originally brought. I mean…twenty years ago, I was twenty. I was young and raring to go, still basking in the twilight of my youth. Hitting mosh pits with my cameras, drinking until the sun came up, and feeling like this was just the beginning of many hard-hitting years to come.
Little did I know, hitting my 30’s was like hitting a brick wall and suddenly my body felt like it died. By 35, I understood why many similarly-aged MLB players were contemplating retirement.. Today, at a “still young” age of 40, I need a full day to recuperate after shooting a show at Red Rocks. Randy Blythe is 53, Troy Sanders is 50, and even though Brann Dailor still looks 19, he’s somehow 30 years older than that. Safe to say, I had questions.
By the time Malevolence took the stage at an early 6PM, the crowd had surpassed my expectations and the rows of Red Rocks were already about 2/3 full.
I was surprised to see that many people, but maybe I shouldn’t have been given their solid following. Being new to their music and having never seen them before, I was actually surprised by their clothing choice. Dressed like the “preppy” ass-holes that used to shit on me in middle school, I was actually taken aback by their big sound and crowd support. Who the fuck am I to judge a book by its cover, these Brits earned it…Tommy Hilfiger jersey, Nike short-shorts and all. Malevolence can fkn’ rip it!
The legendary Kerry King (SLAYER) and his supporting troupe of metal stars-in-their-own-right, are no spring chickens. The guitar god of thrash may be showing some signs of age, but he’s got a solid decade on the guys in Lamb of God and Mastodon. It doesn’t stop his fingers from catching fire as he can still shred the fret blood. What an absolute honor to cover Kerry, something I’ve personally wanted to do for years now. Remind me to tell you about my (actual) run-in with Kerry at a Las Vegas casino. But for now, I’m on a word-count crunch and I have to find a few ways to shorten this show review up.
So, where were we? Oh yes…Mastodon’s about to ride Leviathan in front of 9,000+ some twenty years after they released it.
I remember the album coming out and discovering Mastodon for the first time; blown away by the insanity that ripped my socks off, sliding scales and changing times like no one I’d listened to before. Even the album artwork was completely imaginative and refined, yet still metal as fuck. Mastodon has been so music-forward that their performances have never been extremely physical. Their stage presence has never been about jumping around the stage or being in your face. Gauging their performance really comes down to technical performance.
Complete with the Moby Dick scene opening up the unmistakable Blood and Thunder, it was almost note-for-note. Through their set, the only ways in which I can tell they seem to be aging is in the vocal range (being lower now) and guitar bridge clarity. Who knows, maybe it’s just the end of a long tour. Brent Hinds’ solos just didn’t hit with the same razor sharpness they used to…muddy is the word that comes to mind. In no way did it detract from the overall performance…it’s extremely nit-picky of me to mention, but if I noticed it, no doubt others did too.
Once they slayed the beast, the crowd was treated to a personal moment from Brann recalling the nostalgia of Best Buy and the explosive joy of finding your own album on an end-cap. Something I can completely relate to after the first time I saw an album cover I shot on a Best Buy shelf, or when I saw my work published in Spin Magazine. It’s vindication and the realization of a dream.
Mastodon Setlist:
Blood and Thunder
I Am Ahab
Seabeast
Ísland
Iron Tusk
Megalodon
Naked Burn
Aqua Dementia
Hearts Alive
Joseph Merrick
—
More Than I Could Chew
Circle of Cysquatch
Steambreather
Henceforth, it was time to burn it all down. Lamb of God, with all of their stage pyro, brought Ashes of the Wake to life once more.
I know it’s been a while since Randy cut his hair, but it was still a mini shock to the system to see in person. Mel Gibson’s eyes in Braveheart had this amazing icy fire blue color, a crazed look in his eye as he went into battle. That’s what you can clearly see now that Randy’s cut his hair. Sorry, I know it’s a tangent, but worth mentioning because it immediately impacted me. The energy I felt from being able to see the expressions on his face really hit me. I’ve noticed knee braces and ankle braces on him before, but Randy is by no means fragile at 53. Still jumping from set pieces and risers, on the constant prowl from left to right on stage, there’s no doubt he’s in a different world. Shit, if I brought 1/10th of his physical performance to a karaoke stage, they’d be taking my ass out on a stretcher. Amazing.
Ashes sounded just as angry, just as forceful, and just as energetic 20 years later. The vibe of the album has always struck me as a tough guy’s ode to tough guys. I’ve always felt like Ashes of the Wake had more testosterone than a varsity football team. Sticky, wet adrenaline-soaked metal kicking your face in. Somehow, Lamb of God has refused to run out of testosterone two decades later and their performance was just as explosive as it has ever been. Maybe its a cop-out, but, one of the reasons I was so happy this show was at Red Rocks was because I’m too old to jump in a pit. I know I wasn’t alone since I heard multiple old-school and aging LoG fans saying the same thing. It’s great to be up close without fearing for another torn labrum or slipped disc, injuries all too easy to acquire these days. Hold me back.
Conclusively, these tires have plenty of tread. Sure, the patina is beautifully-aged, but I have no doubt the bones are solid. Both albums have aged better than I have and the performances left nothing on the table. I’ll probably hang up my concert shoes before you can pry the stage from these guys’ bones. I’m already looking forward to the 25th anniversary tour.
Lamb of God Setlist:
Laid to Rest
Hourglass
Now You’ve Got Something to Die For
The Faded Line
Omerta
Blood of the Scribe
One Gun
Break You
What I’ve Become
Ashes of the Wake
Remorse Is for the Dead
—
Walk With Me in Hell
Redneck
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