Kingcrimsonprog
Resolution is the Virginian Metal band Lamb Of God’s seventh official Studio Album. It was released in 2012 and the production saw involvement from both Machine, who handled their Sacrament and Ashes Of The Wake albums as well Josh Wilbur who helmed 2009’s Wrath album, consequently the whole record sounds amazing and tracks flow remarkably well together. As you would expect from Lamb Of God themselves, there are a lot of explosive and loud tracks that are for the most part very heavy and very fast, with a lot of groove coming through into the overall sound and an impressive standard of musicianship from everyone involved.
If you enjoyed the band’s previous two albums in particular, then Resolution is certain to keep you entertained through its fifty-six minute duration, even if the band do seem to suggest otherwise in interviews. Singer Randy Blythe’s vocals are as savage as ever at times yet more varied than on the band’s earliest works; Mark Morten’s lead guitar sound is still fantastically musical where other players may have been tempted just to be noisy and of course the riffs and beats from the rest of the band give you exactly what you would want from a new Lamb Of God Album.
That is not to say that Resolution is just Lamb Of God by numbers however; kicking off with a big and doomy Sabbath inspired opener ‘Straight For The Sun’ and ending with a track called ‘King Me’ which features both female vocals and and orchestra and that also mixes in Trendkill era Pantera sounds with the normal Lamb Of God sound, you simply can’t seriously accuse the band of lacking variety.
Other notable moments include the almost melodic ‘Insurection’ as well as the brief semi-acoustic number ‘Barbarosa’ and ‘The Number Six’ which doesn’t sound like anything on the recent couple of Lamb Of God records.
There are one or two moments towards the start of the album where you can briefly think “I’ve heard that riff before” such as in ‘Ghost Walking,’ which evokes the spirit of the fan-favourite track ‘Redneck,’ but thankfully those moments are relatively few and ultimately form a very small part of the overall experience.
Overall, Resolution is a strong and immensely enjoyable Lamb Of God album that keeps enough of what makes the band enjoyable in the first place to keep fans happy and adds enough twists and turns to the formula to keep things fresh and interesting even if it takes you a few listens to fully get your head around, it is really easy to imagine this album being well represented in the live environment for years to come.
I recommend the album a lot and if you can, try and pick up the special edition version which contains a twelve track live disc from the Wrath Tour and features many of the bands most enduring tracks making it the perfect album for prospective fans to get into the band with.