Look, everybody…if I’m being honest, I wasn’t nearly as excited for this album as I wanted to be. And I’m saying this as a pretty big Lamb of God fan. Seriously, this band is easily one of my favorite metal bands of the 21st Century. As far as I’m concerned, albums like As the Palaces Burn, Ashes of the Wake, and Sacrament function as a three-part instruction manual on how to write insanely infectious groove metal. So in the months leading up to the release of Lamb of God, why should I be so tentative? Well, the main issue for me was the recent departure of drummer Chris Adler. Having seen the band live last year, I witnessed first hand that new drummer Art Cruz is more than capable of performing Adler’s parts, but writing in studio with the band is an entirely different ballgame. As I said, Lamb of God is a band that excels in writing music that grooves naturally, and that is a product of them being one of the most rhythmically tight units in modern heavy metal. And nothing could have more potential to undermine that chemistry than the removal of their career-long drummer. That issue aside, let’s face it, all of Lamb of God’s best work is well over a decade in their rearview. So keeping all this in mind, I can’t say I had my hopes up for this one.
And against all odds, this album is absolutely killer. This is honestly the most high-energy and invigorated Lamb of God have sounded since Sacrament, and despite the change in drummer, the band’s overall groove is almost as tight as it has ever been. The change is definitely noticeable, but Art Cruz does an admirable job of filling Adler’s enormous shoes, falling into the natural Lamb of God groove, while adding his own style. While the band’s collective sound falls just short of the smooth, fluid groove that made Ashes of the Wake so irresistibly headbangable from top to bottom, Cruz’s drumming style ads a very heavy, stomping rhythm, which contributes to the freshness of this album. Cruz’s drums stand out in the mix throughout, and he certainly puts his spotlight to use. While albums like Wrath and Resolution more or less amount to lesser rehashings of Sacrament, this album continues in the more creative direction that the band began toying with on their most recent album, VII: Sturm Und Drang. Like that album, Lamb of God features the band experimenting with softer, more melodic moments, adding sonic diversity we haven’t yet heard from them.“Memento Mori” opens with a haunting clean guitar, accompanying a clean, sung vocal, something we very rarely hear from Randy Blythe. “Checkmate” opens with some tasty blues noodling on guitar, before breaking into one of the nastiest, most unmistakably Lamb of God grooves on the entire album. “Resurrection Man” opens with a creepy, music box sound, before diving into admittedly one of the more rhythmically stiff grooves on the record. And of course, tracks such as “Gears,” “Bloodshot Eyes,” and the aforementioned “Checkmate” prove that Lamb of God still have the groove metal magic that made their classic records great. This probably goes without saying, but Mark Morton’s riffs and Randy Blythe’s powerful roar are up to standard as well. While Mark Morton is known more as a rifflord than a shredder, he provides some surprisingly virtuosic solos throughout this record.
Guest appearances include Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta on “Poison Dream” and Testament vocalist Chuck Billy on “Routes.” Jasta’s performance is solid, but doesn’t add much that I wouldn’t rather hear Blythe sing (who needs guest vocalists when you have Randy Blythe, right?). As you might expect from a song featuring Chuck Billy, “Routes” sees the band embracing their thrash roots, and drawing more directly from the genre than they have since their name was Burn the Priest, definitely making for a musical highlight.
Lyrically, Lamb of God is everything you might expect from a Lamb of God album in 2020. As usual, Randy Blythe does not mince words when it comes to his feelings on the state of things in the U.S. and the world. Blythe is certainly not shy about his strong, left wing convictions, but he seems to be driven by a greater sense of disenfranchisement with the establishment as a whole, and delivers a unifying populist sentiment that most Americans can most likely identify with and rock out to. While it’s not uncommon for rock artists to go down the list and namecheck the issues of the day for the sake of seeming timely and relevant, Blythe’s insights come off as incredibly intelligent and informed. “Checkmate” sees Blythe railing against the two party system, while taking a few shots at Trump. “Gears” and “Resurrection Man” speak on corporatism and economic disparities, which aren’t typically the most fashionable issues to tackle in rock music, but are important issues nonetheless. “Reality Bath” tackles gun violence and climate change. “New Colossal Hate” highlights immigration issues and race relations. “Routes” laments colonialism and references the Dakota Access Pipeline. “On the Hook” takes on addiction and the opioid crisis, another all-important issue that popular music never seems to tackle.
Against all odds, Lamb of God have given us a record that is entirely deserving of the honor of being their self-titled record. Musically and lyrically, it functions as something of a mission statement for what the band sounds like, what they believe, and why their music is every bit as relevant today as it was in the mid 2000s. While it falls somewhat short of the consistency and tightness of the band’s classic works, it shows the band in a creative and energetic place that we haven’t seen since those records. While the departure of Chris Adler threatened to throw the band out of their groove, it actually forced them to step further outside of their comfort zone than they have in some time. Ultimately, this record proves that Lamb of God are still a force to be reckoned with in the metal world, and leaves me excited to see what they do in the future. Lamb of God is easily Lamb of God’s best album since Sacrament.
Score: 8/10
Favorite Song(s): Checkmate, Gears, Bloodshot Eyes, Memento Mori
Least Favorite Song(s): Poison Dream, Resurrection Man
Phil Klinker Music Reviews 