Words and pix by Robert Forte
This past week out in western Massachusetts a particular, however, not entirely non-existent anomaly took place within the cosy confines of the Mass Mutual Centre located in the heart of downtown Springfield.
The first band of a three-act performance actually stole the show, not just from the outset of the concert itself, but throughout its entirety. Hometown heroes Shadows Fall have largely been absent from the world of metal, both from a musical creation, as well as a touring capacity, for quite some time.
This was a self-imposed exile when, following the release of the band’s seventh studio effort, Fire from the Sky and its subsequent tour cycle which ended in 2015, the band made the tough decision to go on an indefinite hiatus for a myriad of reasons. First among those reasons was lead singer Brian Fair’s desire to spend more time with his growing young family, which ultimately saw the vocalist depart his long-time home of New England to take up a new homestead out in the Midwest. Like Fair, bass player Paul Romanko also chose to step away from the music industry limelight in an effort to make himself more available to his new young family at the time as well.
Following the band’s mutual agreed upon extended absence drummer Jason Bittner joined Arizona-based thrash outfit Flotsam and Jetsam, however, in 2017 the drummer would once again switch outfits to take up the drum throne for New Jersey thrash legends Overkill.
Bittner remained in Overkill until 2024, choosing at the time to depart the band to focus on the formation of supergroup Category 7, featuring John Bush of Armored Saint, Kerry King side man and former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel and Adrenaline Mob rhythm guitarist Mike Orlando.
Meanwhile, following Shadows Fall’s hiatus, rhythm guitar player Matt Bachand went on to join forces with ex-Megadeth stalwarts Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover where he’d take on bass duties and help form supergroup Act of Defiance.
Prior to Shadows Fall fading into the background, guitar extraordinaire Jon Donais had already signed on to be the touring guitarist for Big Four legends Anthrax early in 2013, only to become a full-fledged member later that year. Fast forward close to nearly a decade later and rumours of a Shadows Fall reunion, even if in a limited capacity, had begun to circle the interwebs. Sure enough, come the summer of 2021, Shadows Fall reunited for their first live performance in over six years via a headlining gig at their home away from home, the Worcester Palladium in Central Massachusetts.
However, the fire inside all of the original members of Shadows Fall continued to burn, eventually leading the outfit to play a handful of shows throughout 2023, 2024 and even earlier in 2025 as well. This brings us to the band’s most recent performance at the Mass Mutual in Springfield, Massachusetts this past week.
Despite the concert technically being a headlining show for Richmond, Virginia’s metal legends Lamb of God with direct support from both Hatebreed and Shadows Fall themselves, it was the latter of the three bands that seemingly carried the night of aggressive music throughout. To be fair, that condition’s existence was a direct result of several factors converging upon one another that evening.
First and foremost, the mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, the esteemed Dominic Sarno, officially declared July 18 to be forever known going forward as Shadows Fall Day within the city’s limits. This honour did not just ring true for the members of Shadows Fall, even the other two bands that played on the evening, again, Hatebreed and headliner Lamb of God, seemed to willfully and quite gleefully hand the night over to Shadows Fall as well.
As for the performance itself, just about anyone lucky enough to be there would very likely testify that Shadows Fall’s set was the highlight of the night. The band had not played to their hometown faithful in over a decade, and that previous time was inside the walls of Fat Cats, a very small venue in Springfield still in operation to this very day.
However, this time out, Shadows Fall was playing to an arena chock full of not just a myriad of their own friends and family, but seemingly close to 8,000 of their most die-hard fans. Smiles combined with ferocious and non-stop energy ruled the evening as Shadows Fall not only tore through a selection of some of their most beloved songs, they also treated their Springfield, Massachusetts denizens to new music in the form of newly released singles Into the Grey and Souls Devoured.
Shadows Fall’s set list was rather truncated and seemingly passed by in the blink of an eye, however, the sheer glee and togetherness the band was able to share not just with one another but with the entirety of those in attendance left a lasting and quite joyous impression on all those fortunate enough to be inside the arena. That’s a lot of words dedicated to the opener of a three-band performance, which would also go on to again, include both Hatebreed and Lamb of God.
However, to be both fair as well as brutally honest, sometimes the opening act of any show is the best performer of the night, and that’s not always a bad thing.
Bridgeport, Connecticut hardcore heroes Hatebreed followed Shadows Fall with frontman Jamey Jasta and his cohorts delivering a wickedly destructive set highlighted by classics which included Destroy Everything, I Will be Heard, This is Now and As Diehard as They Come.
Towards the end of their set, Jasta took to the mic to dedicate their next song to Sick of it All frontman Lou Koller, who has been been battling cancer recently. As most folks know in the heavy community know, Sick of It All is is credited with inventing what is commonly referred to as the Wall of Death where the crowd divides themselves up into two factions on the arena floor then at the direction of the band on stage with both groups running towards one another meeting in the centre to start that particular song’s performance.
Headliners Lamb of God subsequently went on to make the Wall of Death globally famous, however, Hatebreed and Jasta wanted to start their own tradition which the lead vocalist dubbed the Ball of Death. Without warning, a giant inflatable ball brandished with Hatebreed’s name & logo descended upon the audience as the band ripped into a bone-crushing version of Looking Down the Barrel of Today.
Following Hatebreed, frontman Randy Blythe and his brothers in Lamb of God took to the Mass Mutual Center stage to close out the evening of musical aggression. It’s not to say that Lamb of God’s performance had any less of an effect on the western Massachusetts crowd, it’s just that not only did the Shadows Fall set itself still cast a shadow on the entire evening, it was a bit clear that LOG hadn’t performed in a while as this was the band’s first full-fledged concert since the end of their European tour back in December of 2024.
Bear in mind, however, that’s the reality of the music industry as all bands in every genre of music need time off, then need a short amount of time to dust off the cobwebs and to get the grease back on the wheels, so to speak. Thus Lamb of God’s performance in Springfield in some ways felt like a live rehearsal for the Inkarceration Festival held in Columbus, Ohio just two days later.
Let’s be clear on something, even when Lamb of God gives a 7 out of 10 live performance ,that 7 is most other acts 10 on their best night, and nothing that LoG pulled off in western Massachusetts on July 18 could alter that aforementioned statement.
A few surprises awaited long time fans of Lamb of God as the Richmond, Virginia-based act played A Devil in God’s Country off 2003’s As the Palaces Burn for the first time ever. The out-of-left field songs kept rolling as later in their set Blythe and company delivered a brilliant version of O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E. from the band’s second studio effort, released 25 years ago, and New American Gospel, a track they hadn’t performed in a live setting since 2001.
The final treat LoG decided to gift those inside the walls of the Mass Mutual centre before departing came in the form of an almost operatic take on Black Sabbath’s Children of the Grave, a song the band had debuted just a few weeks early as part of their set honouring the now late and great Ozzy Osborne at Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning charity event held across the pond in Birmingham, England.
An ample amount of kudos should be bestowed upon all three bands that performed at the Mass Mutual Centre. Although the evening seemed a bit tilted towards hometown legends Shadows Fall, a weary tour scheduled Hatebreed fought valiantly through the fatigue (btw, Hatebreed now call Shadows Fall’s own Matt Bachand a member) and a bit of an extended hiatus from live touring on the part of Lamb of God did not stop them or any of the acts from delivering what all of us hope for whenever any of us decide to go see heavy music in a live setting…
That being fun, a sense of togetherness and belonging, as well as hours of brilliant, blistering and aggressively beautiful heavy music. Thank you Shadows Fall, Hatebreed and Lamb of God, you killed it.
Until we meet again….
