LAMB OF GOD — Lamb Of God (review)

Album · 2020 · Groove Metal

3/5 · 2020-10-20
siLLy puPPy

L:AMB OF GOD has been cranking out the quality groove metal since its inception as Burn The Priest in 1994 with a series of high octane albums ever since however this Virginia band led by the screaming maniac Randy Blythe but hasn’t exactly been the most prolific in its output with only nine releases ( eight under the LAMB OF GOD moniker ) in the 26 years of its existence. Five years after “VII: Sturm und Drang” comes the band’s followup simply titled LAMB OF GOD. It baffles me as to why bands choose to use eponymous titles this late in their career especially if they haven’t reinvented their sound and taken it to new unthinkable worlds.

One thing is pretty much a given for LAMB OF GOD and that is that what you expect in terms of fast paced groove metal with rampaging riffs, half speed bass and drums and Blythe’s gut busting vocal utterances, will always be delivered in abundance. While the band has done a fairly decent job of adding new sounds to their albums and integrating them well into their classic groove metal stomps that dominated “As The Palaces Burn,” LAMB OF GOD seems to have hit a brick wall in the creative department as this eponymous release that came out in the era of Covid-19 is pretty much business as usual without any real developments or deviations from the band’s already established sound.

With ten tracks that add up to almost 45 minutes and a bonus track on the limited digipak boxset as well as the Japanese edition, LAMB OF GOD seems to be resting on its laurels and in the year 2020 with its usual predicative blend of groove metal, thrash furor and metalcore breakdowns. LAMB OF GOD has always maintained a consistency of quality and bad tunes is certainly not the issue at hand with this self-titled release but rather a ho hum been there done that before with one track after another sounding cut out of the same cookie cutter songwriting process and a bad case of playing it safe which obviously paid off since the album debuted at number 15 on the Billboard album charts and sold 30 thousand units in its first week of release. Some metalheads prefer safe and predictable over innovation and progression. Personally i’m not one of those.

This album debuts newbie drummer Art Cruz who replaces long time drummer Chris Adler but his drumming style has been tailor made to fit the band’s established sound and he offers absolutely no signs of individuality. There are a couple guest vocal appearances. “Poison Dream” features Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed and “Routes” allows Testament singer Chuck Billy to let loose. Noticeable absent from this self-titled release are any extras that add different layers of atmospheres or subplots in the musical motifs. This is a back to basics groove metal type of album and while that’s not a bad thing per se, it’s certainly not anything that’s taking metal into any new territories. As a LAMB OF GOD fan i’m always a sucker for those chunky groove metal hooks in tandem with Blythe’s unique style of vocal grunts that are teased out into melodic screams.

For those who love diversity in songwriting this may not be the album for you. The tracks all bleed together with only a few such as “Resurrection Man” offering some sort of unique atmospheric counterpoint otherwise it’s a chugging fest in the vein of early LAMB OF GOD bombast. This is a decent album that won’t disappoint those with low expectations as LAMB OF GOD ticks off all the elements that make them LAMB OF GOD however for my tastes i find this to be a very generic album in relation to the interesting albums such as “Sacrament,” “Wrath,” “Resolution” and “VII: Sturm und Drang.” In the end this is an album that will end up in my collection as a fan but will remain one of the least revisited except all inclusive marathon sessions. I expected more after a five year break but c’est la vie.