Dylan Emerson

Mr. Jeffrey Cloutier

MUS 2950

23 November 2021

Concert Review - Concert of My Choosing

On Friday, August 27th, I went to a concert in Denver with my dad and sister that

featured the bands Hatebreed, Trivium, Lamb of God, and Megadeth at the Ball Arena.

Unfortunately, we missed Hatebreed due to time constraints, but we made it in time to watch

Trivium, Lamb of God, and Megadeth perform. All of these bands typically utilize heavy

distortion on their guitars and bass, harsh vocals, fast and aggressive music passages, and dark

musical themes.

Formed in 1994, Hatebreed is an American hardcore punk band based out of Bridgeport,

Connecticut, and consists of members Jamey Jasta on vocals, Chris Beattie on bass, Matt Byrne

on drums, Frank Novinec on rhythm guitar, and Wayne Lozinak on lead guitar. Formed in 1999,

Trivium is an American heavy metal band based out of Orlando, Florida, and consists of

members Matt Heafy on vocals and guitar, Corey Beaulieu on guitar, Paolo Gregoletto on bass,

and Alex Bent on drums. Formed in 1994, Lamb of God is an American groove metal/metalcore

band based out of Richmond, Virginia, and consists of members Randy Blythe on vocals, Mark

Morton on lead guitar, Willie Adler on rhythm guitar, John Campbell on bass, and Art Cruz on

drums. Finally, the headliner of the tour, Megadeth, is an American thrash metal band based out

of Los Angeles, California, that was formed in 1983 and currently consists of members Dave

Mustaine on vocals and guitar, Kiko Loureiro on guitar, Dirk Verbeuren on drums, and David

Ellefson on bass. All four of these bands are considered modern metal music and utilize modern
writing and recording techniques. As mentioned above, the bands each use modern

instrumentation consisting of a guitar, a bass, a drummer, and a vocalist.

The performance itself was exciting to watch and listen to, because I’ve been a fan of

most of these bands for years. Trivium was mixed surprisingly well for being a live setting;

vocals were clear and easy to understand, I could hear the bass most of the time, and the drums

were not too overpowering. The bass even had a cool bass solo that involved tapping! Because of

this, Trivium definitely exceeded my expectations. When Lamb of God performed, they were

significantly louder than Trivium’s mix, and I was overall a little disappointed with how their

audio sounded. The other aspects of their performance, like lighting and pyrotechnics, were a joy

to see and I still had a lot of fun watching them perform, but everything was too loud and the

guitars sounded quite messy and muddy. Megadeth performed about as expected. Their visuals

were outstanding; they had screens that played videos during their performance, lots of lights and

lasers, and lots of pyrotechnics that kept the energy high! The guitar solos came out crisp and

easy to hear, and the riffs weren’t muddy during the rest of their set. Overall, Megadeth met my

expectations. The whole concert was an unforgettable experience, and I hope to go to more

concerts like these in the future!