Originally published by L.S. Media.June 12th 2012. 
L.S. Media Rating *****
For some within the crowd at Download, it was plain to see on their faces that their thoughts were focused on Lamb of God on the Sunday as the band of weekend. Up against some incredible and pretty stiff opposition that’s a hell of a statement on their part, however they were excellent and worthy title fighters for the accolade.
As with any band that is near to the start of the afternoon’s line up, the time on stage is relatively short in comparison to the number of songs that their fan base would genuinely like to hear. For Lamb of God, 45 minutes really wasn’t long enough to get to grips with a band that have released six albums and have had one of the best metal albums of the year in Resolution take the genre by storm.
With limited time, the metal gods from Virginia came out with guns blazing and the full force of great and heart thumping tracks that all appeared off the 2011 Wrath Live Tour album and that alone got the full attention of a crowd, though not as large admittedly as would be for Megadeth, Soundgarden or Black Sabbath, and that judging by the reaction of those taking in the American metal sensation was nothing short of phenomenal.
Lamb of God opened the set with Desolation and Ghost Walking and tore everything that came before them on the Sunday apart. This was really how you do a set, bags of adrenaline, more passion than others can dream of and with an attitude that marks you out as a metal band that craves a bigger slice of the pie. On this showing they deserve it. If they had finished their set after two songs, there would have been mumbles of disquiet but they surely would have gone down as one of the best bands of the weekend. With tracks such as Walk With Me in Hell, Now You’ve Got Something to Die For and the brilliant Redneck all placed in to the 45 minute metal timebomb it’s no wonder the crowd went ballistic at the end of the set and affirmed in a lot of people’s eyes that not only were they right to be included in this year’s Download but were very much one of a kind and simply amazing.
Ian D. Hall