Deputy Editor Caren Gibson checks in from the final night of the Defenders Of The Faith tour!

There was a slightly subdued atmosphere throughout the day. Not sure if it was because it’s last day of school or due to the crippling hangovers of post-London shenanigans…

Five Finger Death Punch quickly overcame niggling first-song technical glitches to win a load of new fans. Their fight songs seemed to connect with the Glasgow crowd best on this tour. Funny that. And I never thought I’d say this, but I’m actually starting to like their music. Maybe I’ll give The Way Of The Fist another spin after all. Fucking top blokes. Thanks for putting up with me this week.

Unearth have loved playing with their buddies Lamb Of God on this tour and it has shown both off stage and on it. They’ve been a joy to meet, good lads, and they’ve fucking delivered every night. Thanks for playing Metal Hammer’s tour, guys.

Sadly Dimmu’s final night was a tough one. They’ve been the misfits on this bill and some crowds have been hard to win over. They’ve been on top of their game every night though, but sadly they lost all keyboards and backing vocals, forcing them off stage 20 minutes early. A disappointing end to the tour.

John Campbell claimed London the previous night hadn’t been a good one for him. I’m sure he’s just being modest, but he swears Glasgow will be better. I can’t tell to be perfectly honest. I just can’t say it enough – Lamb Of God fucking OWN. This is their year, they’ve delivered the album of their career so far and they fucking slayed it every night on this tour. Show me another band on this kind of form at the moment and I’ll give you a biscuit. They fucking RULE. I can’t make it any more simple than that. As deadly as an atom bomb, as vital as oxygen etc etc

A few boring shout outs: thanks to Ivan, Jeremy, Jason, Zoltan, Matt, Scott, Joel, Jeff and Simon for letting me invade your tour bus, Trevor, Derek, Ken and the Unearth guys, Yvette and Dimmu Borgir, Randy, Mark, Willie, king of the one liners John, Chris, Mikey B and LOG crew and finally Kirsten, plus Adam and Dante for making it all possible.

Caren Gibson

Also Metal Hammer send a huge thank you to everyone who came out to any of the shows on this tour. Selling out across the UK and providing one of the tours of the year was our aim and with the help of four amazing bands and every one of you, we achieved exactly that. We throw the horns in your direction!