CD review: LAMB OF GOD, "Wrath"
Posted on March 2nd, 2009
No band has done more for American metal under the Bush years than LAMB OF GOD. For eight years, Virginia's finest upped the ante for modern metal, expressing the rage of a nation over perpetual touring, four outstanding studio albums and previously unthinkable chart success for relatively extreme metal. Now Wrath, the Lamb's latest offering, calls to mind the most overused phrase of the past year, but one that the band should heed–"Change we can believe in."
Wrath is a little like Lamb of God's Divine Intervention–a strong effort from a band that's capable of better. The hooks are there, if not as consistently as on As the Palaces Burn, and there are several great songs, especially the first ones streamed online, "Contractor" and "Set to Fail." Still, much of the album sounds like it's on the verge of taking off. "In Your Words" can't live up the promise of it's first minute, and "Fake Messiah" and "Everything to Nothing" sound great until the part when they're supposed to leave lasting impressions. The skills are still there–hooks drop into "Dead Seeds" and "Broken Hands," the performances are reliably complex and organic, and the band remains unsoftened by age and popularity. But if you're looking for a modern American metal kick in the nuts, any of the band's other records will do the job just as well.
Some of album's best ideas are the most atypical ones. Low-key moments like the haunting, instrumental opener "The Passing," the absorbing intro to "Grace" and best of all the seven-minute closer "Reclamation" all hint at talents that the band hasn't yet tapped into. Five albums in, it'd be to Lamb of God's advantage to take a risk on their next album. It could be their …And Justice for All or it could be their Load, but either way it would show the gutsiness that drew us all in over the past several years.
Mind you, a decent Lamb of God album is still a great record, and there may not be ten better metal albums released this year. Still, we hold the best bands to a higher standard than your average TRIVIUM, and no matter how much it stands out on today's metal scene, next to albums like Palaces and Sacrament, this one's a "burn."
Buy it/burn it/chuck it scale: Burn
13 horns up
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Am I the only one that doesn't like As The Palaces Burn?
I guess i am
This is a good album. Not great, but good.
i strongly disagree.
I personally love this album. It is much more solid than sacrament and heavier and better peformed then ashes.
well done LoG
chris adler had absolutely no good ideas on this album. set to fail is the best and only good song on this album PERIOD.
and btw as the palaces burn their second best album. complex, brutal etc. just bad recording.
well i like the album. as lord brutality said, palaces has a bad sound.
for me personally, wrath is at least as good as sacrament and palaces.
it could've been better but then again it could've been worse
I don't know people where expecting, I think it's pretty good.
I think its great. Great production. Like the acoustic parts. Solid release.
Just a comment on the reviews lately. To have a rating of "Burn it" is really not something a music site (esp geared toward underground Metal) should be supporting. SUPPORT YOUR ARTISTS that you interview for god sakes.
Use another way to rate your reviews people.
bv0id has a good point. However, I've supported lamb of god through the years and I have to say that I wouldn't pay for this album. It just doesn't hold up to their previous releases IMO. But no matter how "unimpressive" the album is, the live show these bastards put on is truly a sight to be seen – my burned cd will be compensated by the $50+ ticket I pay to see them with COB in April.
Personally I love 'As The Palaces Burn', its one of my favioute albums of all time. I'm also loving 'Wrath' at the moment, its a powertful album and its much stronger and heavier than 'Sacrement' (as justshred said too).
I saw them in Febuary on 'Defenders of the Faih' tour (UK) and they played three tracks off the new album (Set To Fail, Dead Seeds and Contractor)…and it can't have just been me and my mate going mental at all three tracks, because I could hear and see everyone getting involved with the three songs, especially the likes of their new single.
They were all really strong songs and blew the roof off of the arena (almost lol). They even played 'Ruin', which was a treat as i don't think that they have played that song in years and never played it when I've seen them.
So horns up to them for keeping it heavy and just keeping the same as I love it haha.
I forgot to say that there should be no burning of this album, but alot of buying you twats =]
I loved "In Your Words", I thought the whole song was sick. I personally enjoyed this album a lot more than Sacrament.
Just to clarify the "burn" rating–I think this is a good album from an awesome band, I'm happy that it's selling well and I can't recommend Lamb of God strongly enough, especially live. However, they have better albums than this one that sound pretty similar.
this album was definitely worth buying. solid release from these guys, and as the review said, that puts this album above most out there released by lesser bands. pick it up if you haven't already.
Strongly disagree with the review. The band definitely innovated with this album and it is in my opinion their best or second best, it's arguable (Sacrament). They got rid of the -core components in their sound and moved to straight Heavy Metal/Groove Metal. Which is a good thing, this is a really mature release.