Lamb of God - Wrath Review

Posted by Matt Shoemaker on 02.24.2009

The Virginia metal quintet brings us their first album in over two years, promising that they have topped themselves with their new release, Wrath. But does the album live up to the band's claims? 411’s Matt Shoemaker checks in with the full review!

The Band

Randy Blythe- Vocals
Mark Morton- Guitar
Willie Adler- Guitar
John Campbell- Bass
Chris Adler- Drums

The Album



Track Listing

1. "The Passing" 1:58
2. "In Your Words" 5:24
3. "Set to Fail" 3:46
4. "Contractor" 3:22
5. "Fake Messiah" 4:34
6. "Grace" 3:55
7. "Broken Hands" 3:53
8. "Dead Seeds" 3:41
9. "Everything to Nothing" 3:50
10. "Choke Sermon" 3:20
11. "Reclamation"

During the recording of Lamb of God’s new album, the band frequently updated their fans on the recording process, and what to expect from the album. Chris Adler stated, “This album is going to surprise a lot of people. Typically bands that get to where we are in our career begin to slack off, smell the roses, and regurgitate… No one wants to hear a band member hyping a new record. ‘Wrath’ needs no hype. We have topped ourselves, and on February 24, you will feel it.” Guitarist Mark Morton’s comments on the musical style of the album also increased expectations, saying, “…’Sacrament’ was a really, really dyamic record… and it was heavily produced. This one’s really raw and real sounding, from every angle, and we’re celebrating the imperfections on this record.” Morton stated how the album was “natural and organic sounding, which in itself, is kind of a revolution these days, when kids are making pro audio-sounding recordings in their dorm rooms, or on their laptops, and cutting and pasting verses and choruses. It’s no longer cutting edge to make a completely space aged, robotic sounding record. I think it’s almost fresh to make one that sounds like an actual band played it. Don’t get me wrong… it still sounds airtight and rehearsed, because it’s all those things. But it’s just real.”

With those words, Wrath almost instantly became one of my most anticipated records of the near future. Morton and Adler were dead on accurate in their statements. This album is real. There is a very natural, fresh sound to every track on the album, and the band even threw in a little bit of musical experimentation along with it, including something most fans of the band thought they would never hear, acoustic guitars. The opening track, “The Passing”, begins with an acoustic piece that slowly descends into heavier guitars and an ominous, foreboding drum section. The second track, “In Your Words”, immediately reveals what the intro was building up to, as the album comes in at full force, with a typical Lamb of God guitar riff, powerful and catchy, as the drums pound away behind it, including one of Chris Adler’s best drum fills ever recorded.

Randy Blythe has been known, over the past few albums, to add new vocal styles to some tracks, in what would seem to be an effort to freshen things up with the band’s sound. He immediately shows off his new style, a strained, higher-pitched scream, over the verses of the track. Calling it a scream wouldn’t be entirely accurate, come to think of it. It’s more of a yell. There’s no real aggression to it, like his shrill screams, which also show up on this track. His growls still sound incredible, as well. Full of guttural power, Blythe seems to have the ability to command the attention of the listener over the rest of the music.

And that’s just the opening track. The rest of the album takes the listener of an incredible journey through some of the best metal heard in some time in the genre. The first single off of the album, “Contractor”, is an exercise in sheer speed and power, as it immediately jumps into a grinding, pulse-pounding mosh pit anthem, before slowing down into another incredible buildup to the essential headbanger’s breakdown. “Grace” starts with another Lamb of God rarity, a melodic guitar section. This sounds like something you would have heard off of DevilDriver’s latest album, but it doesn’t last long, as, like most songs on this album tend to do, everything explodes in at once, this time with a moderately paced, power driven guitar riff, with steady, crushing drums underneath.

Musically, and vocally, the band is as good as ever. There are a lot of the band’s signature sounds on the album, especially in the guitar riffs. I don’t know the proper way to describe them, but especially moving into the Sacrament era, the band focused on these types of riffs a lot. Chris Adler is as sharp as ever on the drums, offering incredible speed, precision, and technicality on almost every song. His drum fills seem to get better over every song, and even when he’s not doing anything spectacular on the drums, he still manages to make the drums one of the driving forces of the band. Blythe, as well, has still got that “it” factor that makes his vocals so unique. The man looks intimidating enough, but once you hear that incredible, guttural growl breach his lips, he manages to match the intensity of his look.

The 411: The band more than backed up their claims that they have topped themselves. This album is how a real heavy metal album should sound. From beginning to end, there is not one minute of the eleven songs I did not enjoy.

Final Score:  10.0   [ Virtually Perfect ]