Lamb of God – Killadelphia

Lamb of God – Killadelphia / 2005 Epic / 16 Tracks / http://www.lamb-of-god.com / http://www.epicrecords.com / Reviewed 03 January 2006

The product of this live album is something that honestly holds a candle to previous live works like KISS’s “Alive” or Cheap Trick’s “Budokan” album. The music contained within is solid enough to conceivably be on a studio recording, while the addition of live singalongs to a number of the tracks really adds another dimension to this disc. What is even more impressive is the fact that these tracks were not merely culled from the strongest of the tour, but from only two nights in the city of Brotherly Love. What results is something that is as inspirational as a Billy Graham devotional but as brutal as a Hellhammer show; there are simply no weaknesses to be found on “Killadelphia”.

The tracks meld into one another fairly easy, but this is not the type of amorphous mass that shows a band out of their element. Rather, this is a story that a listener (or viewer) needs to stick with throughout the album. What is nice about the momentum of “Killadelphia” is that stage banter is kept to a minimum. This means that the true essence of Lamb of God is given to the listener just as it was all those months ago when the band played live. Of the two releases (CD and DVD), one should decided to pick up the DVD just to complete the picture of Lamb of God. The production of the CD is not weak in any sense, but the DVD has just a little more to offer listeners.

All that listeners need to do to be assured that Lamb of God are at the top of their game is just put on one track from the live show – namely, “Ruin” – and see how the band melds together the early-eighties metal of Metallica with something even more primal. As the disc spins on, one notes that the band does not exhibit any signs of slowing down even in the last few songs of their set. What awaits listeners of both studio and live Lamb of God is at least an hour of furious metal mayhem, and this fact alone should be enough of an impetus to really cause this disc to fly off of shelves. For fans of true metal and great music alike “Killadelphia” is the one live album this year that is absolutely essential to pick up, and perhaps in the top twenty-five albums overall to grab.

Top Tracks: Ruin, Omerta

Rating: 7.3/10

[JMcQ]