The 10 Songs We NEED to Hear on Lamb Of God's State Of Unrest Tour
Tuesday, 07 March 2023
Written by Jack Terry
It's been a long time coming, but Lamb Of God are back in the UK for their State Of Unrest tour, which was originally booked for 2021. Of course we all know what's happened over the past three years, and while the Richmond, VA five-piece kept things ticking over with global live streamed shows, nothing quite compares to being in the room with their brand of ferocious and politically-charged metal.
Whether you class them as groove metal, metalcore, thrash metal or death metal, that's up to you, but however you choose to label them, they have the chops to have the word 'legends' tagged onto the end. We sat down with their nine studio albums and handpicked the 10 songs that we are just dying to hear as they cleave their way through the UK with co-headliners Kreator.
State Of Unrest
This may be the obvious choice: it's their newest song, it's the name of their tour, and they're co-headlining with the very band that they just so happened to collaborate with for State Of Unrest (proceeds from the single are being donated to Dallas Hope Charities, in honour of Power Trip's Riley Gale, who was due to sing on the track before his passing). As if that wasn't reason enough to want to hear this, the song is an absolute ripper and this is UK fans' first chance to witness the mayhem.
Black Label
The song that started it all. When Lamb Of God rebranded from Burn The Priest and released 'New American Gospel' in 2000, the metal world sat up and paid attention, comparing them to heavy luminaries including Pantera and Meshuggah. Black Label stood out as being unfathomably heavy in both delivery and production and it has remained a fan favourite over the years, earning its place as a staple of live shows.
Resurrection Man
When Lamb Of God released their self-titled eighth album in 2020 to mass critical acclaim, fans were champing at the bit to hear the songs live. The world had other plans, but when the band opted to keep us ticking over with live streamed shows on which they played the album in full, Resurrection Man was so well received that they released the live recording as a standalone video. With that video having been watched close to 500,000 times in the past year, fans have been lapping it up and there's no doubt that this will go down a storm on this tour.
Omerta
"If I live, I will kill you. If I die, you are forgiven. Such is the rule of honour." Honestly, we just want to hear this for the badass opening monologue. But we'll take the added bonus of Omerta going off like a stick of dynamite, too.
Vigil
You don't have to dig too deep into Lamb Of God's back catalogue to see how proud they are to be American. Similarly, you don't have to look too hard to spot their disdain at how the country has been run over the past two decades. Vigil combines all of that to a scabrous extent by using religious terminology to decry the political regime of 2003, and the personal emotion that has been poured into this makes for essential listening, both recorded and live.
Still Echoes
'VII: Sturm Und Drang' came about after a tumultuous period for the band. Largely written while vocalist Randy Blythe was facing manslaughter charges following the death of a fan following a show in Prague (which he was ultimately acquitted of), they were able to dial up the introspection, and Still Echoes is a particularly raw entry into the Lamb Of God canon all about the history of the prison Blythe found himself in, and how he never gave up hope.
Foot To The Throat
While the likes of Redneck and Walk With Me In Hell have become guaranteed fixtures in every show they play, there's a lot of great material on 2006's 'Sacrament' that doesn't get a look in. Take Foot To The Throat, for example. It has never been given the time in the spotlight it so sorely deserves, you'll be hard pressed to find a Lamb Of God fan that wouldn't be pleased to hear this one.
Contractor
'Wrath' is an LP full of absolute monster tunes and is arguably one of Lamb Of God's best records to date. While we quietly hope for a 15-year 'played in full' anniversary tour next year (please?!) we'll settle for hearing Contractor this time around, especially with that absolutely feral final breakdown that perfectly encapsulates Blythe's fury at the US Government's "security" forces in the Middle East. A heavy subject deserves a heavy song, and this is up there with the most bruising songs Lamb Of God has ever recorded.
The Undertow
By now, we all know Blythe’s voice within four syllables of him performing on any track. But the other part of what makes Lamb Of God so distinguishable is the ridiculous tones they get out of lead guitarist Mark Morton. On The Undertow, he takes that a step further by laying down one of his most blistering guitar solos, which makes this song a lock for the live wishlist every time they tour.
Grayscale
Lamb Of God's latest album 'Omens' is still very new, and as a result, they've barely even scratched the surface of bringing the work to a live setting. Tracks like Ditch and Nevermore are among the best we've had from the Virginia natives in years, but it's Grayscale that really deserves the plaudits.
Lamb Of God Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue March 07 2023 - MANCHESTER Manchester Academy
Wed March 08 2023 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Fri March 10 2023 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Sat March 11 2023 - NORWICH Nick Rayns LCR
Tue March 21 2023 - LONDON OVO Arena Wembley
Tue March 14 2023 - BARCELONA Razzmatazz (Spain)
Wed March 15 2023 - MADRID Riviera (Spain)
Fri March 17 2023 - ZURICH Hall (Switzerland)
Sat March 18 2023 - SAARBRUCKEN E WERK (Germany)
Sun March 19 2023 - BERLIN Columbiahalle (Germany)
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