Review: Joshua Hobbins
Photography: Alexander Hare
Lamb of God, Trivium and Bleed From Within descended on Brisbane’s Riverstage on Sunday night for the final show of their Australian tour. Three bands with plenty of history between them, a ridiculous amount of talent on stage and a crowd more than willing to get involved. This was always going to be a good one.
Scotland’s Bleed From Within kicked things off with the bagpipe intro to Zenith, and they sounded huge from the outset. The sun was still setting over Riverstage when The End of All We Know had the first circle pits opening up. Nothing like a few sunset breakdowns to start the night off right.
Frontman Scott Kennedy was in fine form, telling the crowd how much he loves Australia. The weather is always perfect, apparently, but his favourite thing about visiting is being able to use the word ‘cunt’ as a term of endearment. After declaring Brisbane a bunch of “fucking good cunts”, he announced they’d got the slow song out of the way and asked who wanted something heavy. Pathfinder followed, along with a demand for the biggest wall of death of the tour. God Complex had the crowd crouching down before Kennedy gave the signal for everyone to jump.
There was an interesting moment before I Am Damnation, with Kennedy reflecting on the band’s 22-year history. Before they’d even started writing original material, they were covering songs from Lamb of God’s As the Palaces Burn. Now, more than two decades later, they were sharing a stage with them.
The band were incredibly tight throughout, with Steven Jones delivering excellent clean vocals and the rhythm section of Ali Richardson and Davie Provan sounding particularly nasty when the breakdowns hit. Special mention has to go to Australian guitarist Harrison, filling in for Craig Gowans, who’d returned home due to a family emergency. Having learned the entire set in a week, he nailed it, including some seriously impressive solo work during Levitate.
Finishing with In Place of Your Halo, Bleed From Within had done far more than simply warm up the crowd. They sounded great, had everyone involved and proved an excellent choice to open the night.
Trivium were up next, opening with The End of Everything before tearing into Rain and Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr. It was a cracking start, particularly for anyone who’s been following the band since Ascendancy.
Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu sounded fantastic together, their guitar work sharp and clear, while Beaulieu’s harsh vocals were particularly impressive. Paolo Gregoletto‘s bass was prominent in the mix and locked in beautifully with Alex Rüdinger, who was an absolute weapon behind the kit. Having joined the band in 2025, Rüdinger delivered a technical masterclass from the opening song, with his work on The Sin and the Sentence a particular highlight.
Before that track, Heafy decided to stir things up by announcing that Sydney had been the best crowd of the tour so far. The response was a predictable chorus of boos, followed by a challenge to do better.
The clean vocal harmonies on The Sin and the Sentence were excellent, Down From the Sky was one of the heavier moments of the set, and Until the World Goes Cold had the crowd singing along to its massive chorus. For mine, though, Entrance of the Conflagration was the highlight. The band were ridiculously tight, and hearing those riffs played with that sort of precision was something else.
There was plenty of variety across the set, from older favourites Fugue (A Revelation) and Like Light to the Flies to new single Dead Inside of Me, which had a bit of swagger to it. Vengeance Falls had the mosh jumping, while The Heart from Your Hate prompted another huge singalong.
With Capsizing the Sea signalling the arrival of In Waves, Heafy told Brisbane they were close to becoming the best crowd of the tour. By the end of the song, he’d officially handed them the title. Sorry, Sydney.
Trivium were excellent, with the guitars sounding great together and Rüdinger’s drumming a genuine highlight. It’s not often you find yourself watching the drummer as much as the rest of the band, but he was hard to ignore.
Then it was time for Lamb of God, and fuck me, what a performance.
The crowd had already started a massive “Lamb of God!” chant before the band appeared, and when Ruin kicked in, it was immediately apparent we were in for something special. It sounded absolutely filthy. Laid to Rest followed, and that breakdown genuinely gave me goosebumps. By the time Now You’ve Got Something to Die For rolled around, they’d somehow managed to get heavier and groovier with each successive song. What an opening.
Randy Blythe was a force of nature, pacing the stage like a madman and delivering every line with that unmistakable venom. Mark Morton and Willie Adler sounded immense together, while John Campbell and Art Cruz provided the sort of rhythmic foundation that makes Lamb of God’s music hit so hard.
The newer Into Oblivion fitted comfortably into the set, while Resurrection Man had Morton and Adler coming together on one side of the stage for its closing section, with Blythe roaring “I will bury you, I will fucking bury you” over the top. Cruz was particularly impressive during Hourglass, and Morton delivered some brilliant lead work during Descending.
Ashes of the Wake was another highlight, somehow managing to be technical, heavy and ridiculously groovy all at once. But it was Walk With Me in Hell, dedicated to Bleed From Within and Trivium, that really took things to another level. The crowd screamed the title back at Blythe, Morton nailed the solo and the breakdown was probably the biggest of the night. Just an enormous sounding band.
Omerta was every bit as nasty, its slow, sludgy groove giving Blythe plenty of room to prowl the stage looking suitably menacing. Memento Mori was another crowd favourite, while Sepsis featured a particularly filthy bass tone from Campbell.
Before the inevitable Redneck, Blythe reminded Brisbane that this was the town that had convinced him to quit drinking, so he knew the “crazy motherfuckers” in front of him were capable of making a lot more noise. And with that unmistakable opening riff, the place went off one last time.
“We are Lamb of God, we love you motherfuckers. Please get home safe,” Blythe told the crowd as the band wrapped things up.
I’ve seen plenty of heavy bands over the years, but there aren’t many that combine technicality, aggression and groove quite like Lamb of God. They were on another level tonight. Bleed From Within were a fantastic opener, Trivium were technically brilliant, but Lamb of God were the reason I walked out of Riverstage with a massive grin on my face.
– GALLERY –
