By Scott McLennan

Lamb of God’s show at the MassMutual Center was as spirited, fierce, and technically dazzling as any that the group has brought to these parts over the past two decades.

Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe and guitarist Mark Morton. Photo: Sam McLennan

Black Sabbath’s gloomy self-titled debut album, released in early 1970, is probably the most appropriate point to log the arrival of heavy metal as a separate, distinct strain of rock ’n’ roll. That said, the group’s heralded retirement concert, held July 5 in the band’s birthplace of Birmingham, England, doesn’t mark metal’s terminus.  If anything, the festival-style sendoff, which included a raft of bands inspired by Black Sabbath, posed a fascinating question — who best actively represents the genre now?

To these ringing ears, Lamb of God tops the list. The metal stalwarts from Virginia have been a relentless force in heavy music since the band’s 2000 debut album New American Gospel. The troupe boasts a string of genre-defining records, the most recent being 2022’s Omens. Its stature within the metalverse earned the band a slot in the Black Sabbath farewell fest. While there, Lamb of God paid its respects by playing a raging version of Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave,” ultimately memorializing that tribute with a studio recording of the classic cut. The circle will indeed be unbroken.

A couple of weeks removed from the Sabbath celebration, Lamb of God opened its first tour of the year on July 18 in Springfield at the MassMutual Center, with a show as spirited, fierce, and technically dazzling as any the group has brought to these parts over the past two decades.

Lamb of God had Connecticut’s Hatebreed and Massachusetts’ own Shadows Fall, two other heavyweights spawned in the dynamic metal scene of the early 2000s, on the bill, which made the concert a celebration of the region’s significance to the music’s history.

Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe has always been big on reminding audiences that they are more than just ticket buyers; they are part of a global underground community. He namechecks bands from whatever area Lamb of God happens to be performing in and makes note of shows of yore; in Springfield he recalled a big night in 2003 at Fat Cat’s nightclub with Shadows Fall and Unearth, another Mass band still at it (and the singer gave a shout out to Worcester’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival for being an important launch pad for Lamb of God).

None of this comes off as cloying showbiz schmaltz, especially given that Lamb of God put together a jaw-dropping setlist that spanned its career and was full of rarely played and never-before-played songs. This outing followed a series of tours, when Lamb of God was opening for others and playing mostly well-known metal “hits,” and last year’s trek, which featured full performances of the album Ashes of the Wake. At the MassMutual Center, the band took the opportunity to stretch out and reach back in order to push the argument that Lamb of God is still very much at the top of its game

Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe. Photo: Sam McLennan

It’s hard to take your eyes off Blythe as he prowls the stage with a gangly athleticism, but every member of the band was playing at an elevated level. Sometimes the blistering guitar work of Mark Morton and Willie Adler demanded your attention, or drummer Art Cruz would drive the proceedings with a manic percussive battery, or bassist John Campbell would bound into the spotlight.

Lamb of God opened with a pair of more recent songs, the horror-themed “Resurrection Man” and angry “Ditch,” before delivering its first classic track of the night, “Walk with Me in Hell.”

Then the band played a live debut performance of “A Devil in God’s Country,” which first appeared on the 2003 album As the Palaces Burn. Lamb of God nailed the song’s slash-and-burn punk-rock dynamics and wore its badass swagger well.

The group stayed in its early years, offering both deep cuts and signature songs that helped shape the contours of the modern-metal era. “The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion” and “ODHGABFE” were inspired choices from New American Gospel, underscoring the value of this landmark record, both in terms of how it updated metal’s sound and solidified its anti-authoritarian stance. Lamb of God showed how the band could subvert religious fervor when it charged into the call-and-response abnegations of “Blacken the Cursed Sun.”

As dark as Lamb of God gets, at the heart of its music is an urgent call to embrace life, a message that resounds in the anthemic “Memento Mori.” The band closed out its 90-minute set with the Sabbath salute “Children of the Grave” and its own brutal beatdown, “Redneck.”

Hatebreed singer Jamey Jasta. Photo: Sam McLennan

Hatebreed preceded Lamb of God with its spirited brand of “us-against-the-world” rallying cries, delivered in a chugging fusion of hardcore punk and heavy metal. Lead singer Jamey Jasta is a tireless hype man for modern metal who convincingly sells the positive power of really aggressive and dark music. “I Will Be Heard,” “Perseverance,” and “Staring Down the Barrel of Today,” among other songs, are empowering messages that Hatebreed delivers with conviction and zeal. But Jasta doesn’t keep the performance totally heavy; mid-set he launched a giant black beach ball, emblazoned with the phrase “Ball of Death” and the band’s logo, into the crowd. The mighty orb bounced around the arena for the remainder of the band’s set.

Locally bred Shadows Fall came out of retirement a few years ago playing a handful of shows. At this point, things are becoming interesting because the band is introducing new material, and really good material at that. Shadows Fall excels at creating a melodic thrash that moves from tightly wound to gloriously soaring, all of it propelled on stage by singer Brian Fair and the ferocious lead guitar work of Jonathan Donais. The band included both of its new tracks, “Souls Devoured” and “In the Grey,” in its opening set, seemingly asserting that it wants to be more than a band that gets together for the occasional nostalgia show. An explosive set-closing take of “The Light That Blinds” was a reminder of just how powerful Shadows Fall was — and continues to be. Any sort of sustained comeback would be welcome. And the band was certainly welcomed back to Springfield. Mayor Domenic Sarno acknowledged in a proclamation that guitarists Donais and Matt Bachand founded the band in his city in 1996. July 18 was declared “Shadows Fall Day.”

Scott McLennan covered music for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette from 1993 to 2008. He then contributed music reviews and features to The Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Portland Press Herald, and WGBH, as well as to The Arts Fuse. He also operated the NE Metal blog to provide in-depth coverage of the region’s heavy metal scene.