Lamb of God – Wrath
For over a decade, Lamb of God has taken groove metal to the mainstream, slowly climbing up the charts, while gaining a reputation as one of the craziest live acts in metal. From chugging breakdowns to walls of death, there is no doubt that when somebody buys a ticket to a LOG concert, all hell is going to break loose. Lamb of God’s albums have always had a consistent quality to them, sticking to a formula with little change or experimenting. Sure, in later years, there has been a heavier emphasis on the lead guitar and vocalist Randy Blythe has worked with his range, but the band has mostly stuck to a career path that emphasizes brutality over innovation.
Wrath, the band’s fifth album, is no different than any of their past four albums. The production is better, there are bits and pieces of actual melody scattered around, and closing track “Reclamation” hits the seven-minute mark, but Wrath is still Lamb of God through and through. Many will read this with a sign of relief, a fear that the band was letting the surprising success of Sacrament get to their head. Others will sigh in frustration, wondering how a band can be so stubborn and unwilling to branch out.
Instrumental “The Passing” is a low-key start to Wrath, with acoustic guitars providing some complex textures normally not heard from Lamb of God. These textures return in the form of a bluesy jam to start “Reclamation” and a timely clean break in the introduction to “Grace.” Other than these calm moments, it is full speed ahead for the Virginian quintet. The first half is particularly strong, with “Set To Fail” and “Fake Messiah” keeping things mid-paced, while heightening the intensity and reckless abandonment. “Contractor” starts off like a freight train going off the tracks, killing everything in its path, before slowly down for a heavy breakdown that was made with the intention of smashing crap.
The second half is where the band deviates to tired and repetitive songwriting. It’s like the band seemed to run out of ideas, aiming for aggression and pounding riffs instead of any type of memorable attributes. “Everything To Nothing” is the only song that seems to have any type of kick to it, save for the god-awful chorus. The lyrics seem to be getting worse and worse as the band’s career goes on, and while that aspect of the band hasn’t always been their strong suit, Wrath seems to be nothing more than a mix of angry tirades and expletives randomly strung together with no clear message. Who really listens to Lamb of God for poetic lyrics though?
Wrath is the sound of a band on auto-pilot. Blythe’s vocals are still harsh and biting, though his singing could use some work, the guitar duo of Mark Morton and Willie Adler provide a few catchy riffs and solid solos, and the rhythm section is mostly dull, save for the work-horse mentality of drummer Chris Adler. Judging by their #2 debut on the Billboard charts, Lamb of God seemed to have found a large audience with Wrath; too bad that it came at the sacrifice of any type of progression or creativity.
Rating: 6.5/10
Label: Epic
Web site: http://www.lamb-of-god.com/
By Dan Marsicano
(+39 rating, 12 votes)
Some motha f’ers you just can’t please… sheesh.
they’ve progressed far from ATPB, not in a good way
Finally, a review that I can agree with! Wrath is by far LoG’s weakest album and I am an honest fan.
In my opinion I doubt they will ever top Ashes Of The Wake. They are becoming more and more dull with each release.
They really need to take their time with the next release, LoG used to be all about the ripping guitars, now it’s just the same boring riffs over and over.
In my eyes the deed is done and they have alienated me as a fan. I doubt they will ever put out another decent metal album.
this album owns. Best of 09 so far behind Lazarus AD
umm, Randy’s voices needs to be better? he’s not writing fucking ballads- he’s a singer in a brutal, fast metal band. this review sucks.
LoG has never been brutal.
DethOrgy wrote:
Finally, a review that I can agree with! Wrath is by far LoG’s weakest album and I am an honest fan.
In my opinion I doubt they will ever top Ashes Of The Wake. They are becoming more and more dull with each release.
Ashes is by far my LEAST favorite album of theirs. Hell, I even like Sacrament better than that garbage. Laid to Rest is the only song even halfway worth a shit on that album.
That being said I enjoyed Wrath the first couple times I listened to it. Now I pretty much just listen to Reclamation then skip to the next album on my mp3 player. Wrath is actually a very boring album much like Ashes ironically enough. The only way that I can even differentiate most of the songs on Wrath from each other is where the clean guitar parts are on the album. Other than that everything else is just kind of blah. Not very impressed with their progression. As the Palaces Burn I believe is always going to be their best album.
well i agree with you that as the palaces burn is their best, but ashes of the wake is almost just as amazing, they went downhill after that, sacrament was decent, then wrath just sucked balls, theres a few good songs on it, but only a few
i personally think as the palaces burn and ashes of the wake are their best offerings to date. I think sacrament was pretty crappy…this is better than sacrament but not even close to ashes or palaces….
the people who write on these pages cant be guitar players “singers” bass players or drummers. and if you are, you all need to stop playing for the sake of yourselves. this album is fucking insane yea it may have a shity part in it or two. but it is FAST and HEAVEY as hell. the drums are fucking recockulos and randys vocals are huge.
ur all crazy wrote:
the people who write on these pages cant be guitar players “singers” bass players or drummers. and if you are, you all need to stop playing for the sake of yourselves. this album is fucking insane yea it may have a shity part in it or two. but it is FAST and HEAVEY as hell. the drums are fucking recockulos and randys vocals are huge.
I would advise looking into more or less every Death Metal band since the dawning of metal. Cause chances are they wipe the floor with ANYTHING LoG has ever done guitar wise.
while i agree with most of the review, and DethOrgy’s sentiment almost exclusively (i love “Contractor,” and “Reclamation,” but that’s about it.) i have one issue with the review:
Randy Blythe is an excellent lyricist, poetically speaking.
while he takes massive pages out of Metallica’s book (common use of vernacular turns of phrase, somewhat blunt but very poignant political messages), he has a unique and distinct use of language, especially on Ashes of the Wake (which i beleive to be a masterpiece from start to finish: the slow second half is stronger than the singles if you take the time to digest the songs thoroughly. they are dense, but filled with character).
in answer to your question “Who listens to Lamb of God for poetic lyrics?” I do. or did. And i miss them. I’ve written term papers on Blythe’s unique poetic style and sharp wit in poetry classes at a fairly prestigious college and received high marks. he was a great poetic man as well as a brilliant vocalist. I want the old Randy back.
if you want a more in depth diagnosis of precisely HOW poetically viable Randy’s Lyrics are, i’ll be happy to oblige, just email me, or comment on my comment.
-HMK at EMP
writes alot of those lyrics to its not just randy
I still need to check this album out.
WHEN IS JOEY GOING TO GET BACK WITH MURDER DOLLS? THEY ROCKED!!!!!!!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS, YOU GUYS FUCKING ROCK!!!!