A capacity crowd of approximately 2,500 people turned out to mosh, crowd surf and bang their heads at Supertoad in Des Moines Thursday night to a line-up that featured heavy metal up-and-comer Life of Agony, the spookcore phenomenon Coal Chamber and heavy metal legend Megadeth.

The show kicked off with a furious performance from Life of Agony. New frontman Whitfield Crane (formerly of Ugly Kid Joe) delivered shrieking vocals over a consistent background of agonizing guitar noise, thick bass riffs and pulsing drum beats.

Unfortunately, most of the crowd seemed to be unfamiliar with the group’s music.

Crane did his best to keep the set interesting by encouraging the crowd to sing along and by commanding it to mosh harder. The crowd was perfectly willing to mosh harder, but was unable to sing along to most of the tunes.

The two highlights of Life of Agony’s short set were “Weeds,” which has received generous radio play, and a cover version of Black Sabbath’s “Symptom of the Universe” that would have made Ozzy Osbourne grimace with delight.

Of course, Osbourne wasn’t in attendance, but his legacy was present all evening. This was most evident when Coal Chamber, who just happens to be managed by Osbourne’s wife, hit the stage.

Coal Chamber was visually and musically stunning. From “Oddity’s” beginning chant of “This is the way it’s got to be…” the crowd knew that the dark horse of new metal was going to rock their world. The group did not disappoint.

Vocalist/lyricist Dez Fafara provided a set that was aggressive, theatrical and entertaining. Every song was punctuated by his trademarked sly grins, pantomimes and eerie body language. Guitarist Meegs Rascon never stopped jumping while delivering murky, explosive riffs that worked the audience into a frenzy.

Whether the group was playing “Oddity,” “Bradley,” “Unspoiled,” “I,” “First” or “Clock,” the audience knew almost every word and they weren’t afraid to shout them out. The group also debuted a new song, “Anxiety,” that went over well.

But the crowd was most enthused during “Sway,” “Big Truck” and the group’s hit single, “Loco.”

The Bloodhound Gang-ish intro to “Sway” (“The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire”) and the following annihilistic melody ignited the crowd into a venue-spanning mosh pit. Dozens of people could be seen floating through the air at all times, passed around like living beach balls.

“Big Truck” followed with its gritty, rambling heaviness and the show ended on a bright note with “Loco,” which the group played after warning the audience that it couldn’t come back for an encore.

After Coal Chamber’s show was over, Rascon and bassist Rayna jumped into the crowd to be passed around. Fafara stood above the chaos urging the crowd to surf Rayna to the back of Supertoad and then “bring her back home.”

Next up was the headlining act, the legends that almost everybody was waiting for (although several dozen people could be seen leaving after Coal Chamber was done). Unfortunately, Megadeth was a bit disappointing.

The group has come a long way from its heavy metal beginnings, which was evident in the appearance of the band. Bassist David Ellefson now sports a short haircut, while vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine no longer wears bludgeoned black shirts and leather.

Although Mustaine was decked out in a nice pair of jeans and a white buttoned-up shirt (which he didn’t remove until the concert was almost over), Megadeth’s music was still as aggressive as ever.

Megadeth focused on its latest material and there was a conspicuous lack of old material. “Set The World Afire,” “In My Darkest Hour,” “Lucretia” and “Holy Wars” were mere shadows of their former selves. It also didn’t help that the band was content to merely stand still or lightly pace the entire show. Coal Chamber blew its predecessor away in the performance department.

But Megadeth had plenty of hit singles on its side. “Skin O’ My Teeth,” “Symphony of Destruction,” “Foreclosure of A Dream,” “Reckoning Day” and “Peace Sells” (which became an odd melody with a tune that sounded vaguely like “Fff”) were all expected and were all delivered. So were newer hits like “Trust” and “Train of Consequences.”

The group trotted out its soundtrack songs (which included “99 Ways To Die,” “Go To Hell” and “Angry Again”) to a phenomenal response but got a roomful of smiles and laughter when it screwed up a section of “Sweating Bullets.”

The majority of Megadeth’s set seemed half-hearted or lukewarm. It almost seemed like Mustaine and company didn’t really want to play at all.

Sure, the band delivered all of its hit singles with the same precision and calculation that is found on its CDs, but the group’s aggressive attitude was missing.

The only time it surfaced was five minutes before the entire concert was over. The group left the stage, amidst thunderous applause and chanting, and popped back on again for an encore.

A minute’s worth of “Anarchy In The U.K.” was played to a tepid audience response, which angered Mustaine and provoked him to leave the stage again.

A few minutes later, he came back on and told the audience that he wouldn’t play an encore unless the crowd was more enthusiastic. The threat seemed a little shallow considering that Mustaine did not appear to be enthusiastic all evening.

But when all was said and done, the group did play its one song encore (which made the Sex Pistols look like great musicians by comparison), and then it took off into the night a half hour before the concert was supposed to be over.