Iowa’s devoted maggots descended on Hilton Coliseum like a biblical plague Saturday night.

The Des Moines-based nu-metal nine-piece band Slipknot brought its unique brand of musical devastation to a home-state crowd as part of its Subliminal Verses Tour. The black-clad masses of metalheads were out in full force to welcome their home-state heroes.

Metalcore quintet Shadows Fall started off with the band launching into “The Power of I and I,” off its latest album, “The War Within.” Shadows Fall unleashed an impressive volley of songs, showcasing a bruising twin-guitar assault from riff-masters Matthew Bachand and Jonathan Donais on songs like “The Idiot Box” and “Enlightened by the Cold.”

Throughout the band’s set, Fair proved to be the perfect metal frontman, his enormous mass of dreadlocks flailing in all directions. The singer unleashed screams tempered by clean vocal harmonies shared with Bachand on the band’s closing tune, “What Drives the Weak,” showing impressive versatility. Shadows Fall did an amazing job of getting the crowd warmed up, and it is easy to see why this band is getting so much attention.

If Shadows Fall was out to warm up and win over the crowd, Lamb of God was out to murder it. As blood-red lights bathed the stage, the band dispensed with introductions, immediately delivering the one-two punch of “Laid to Rest” and “Hourglass.” Frontman Randy Blythe stalked back and forth across the stage like a caged predator, stopping only to unleash throat-rending screams.

Although Shadows Fall tempered its metallic salvo with vocal harmonies and quieter moments, Lamb of God made no such compromises, relentlessly battering the crowd into submission with thrash-influenced riffs and breakdowns on “Ruin,” “As the Palaces Burn” and “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For.” The band wasn’t afraid to delve into its past, playing the song “Bloodletting,” which dates back to the days when the band was known as Burn the Priest.

Lamb of God ended its assault with signature tune “Black Label,” causing the fans on the floor to erupt into frenzied circle pits. Although the “wall of death” was conspicuously absent during the song, Lamb of God still managed to annihilate the audience.

After a quick set change, the lights went down, and it was time for the masked men of Slipknot to bring their singular style of theatrical metal to Hilton. The large curtain that had been placed in front of the stage dropped suddenly, revealing a massive stage featuring a rotating drum set, enormous video screens and the band adorned in its signature gruesome masks and matching boiler-suits.

At this point, the crowd went ballistic, a seething mass of screaming and raised devil horns, giving Slipknot the metalhead version of a returning hero’s welcome. The band was several songs into its set before playing radio hit “Before I Forget,” but every song was greeted with the devoted horde of homestate maggots singing along and moshing violently, regardless of mainstream popularity.

The band unloaded an impressive combination of visual and musical chaos with tracks like “(sic)” and “The Heretic Anthem,” as DJ Sid Wilson ran around the stage like a demented child, vocalist Corey Taylor held the audience in the palm of his hand and percussionist Shawn Crahan battered his kit. During “Spit It Out,” Slipknot brought the audience to its knees — literally and figuratively, the maggots crouching down on the floor during the song and erupting at Taylor’s command to “jump.”

Closing out the show with the anthemic “Surfacing,” Slipknot left its fans in a state of exhaustion and ecstasy.

If this show is any indication of the way heavy music’s resurgence in popularity is headed, metal fans have a lot to look forward to.