Bruce Dickinson once said that; “Every metal giant has the opportunity once in their career to make a huge [selling] album. Only Metallica has grabbed a hold on that opportunity and made it happen.”
This quote makes perfect sense for metal giants Lamb Of God. Their last album “Sacrament” was a big metal album, going as high as #8 on the charts and having the song “Redneck” nominated for a Grammy, as well as launching them to celebrity status with them playing on [Late Night With] Conan O Brian and making their tours sell out quicker then ever before. This album was the second step for world domination, as their DVD Killadelphia was the first major step in catapulting their career. Sacrament was the album they needed at that point in their career. It was an album laden with metal anthems such as “Again We Rise,” “Redneck,” “Requiem,” and “Pathetic.” This was the album they needed to make.
That was 2006, this is the year 2009. This month is the launch of their new album entitled “Wrath,” and the world is writhing in anticipation of what the new album will hold and many believe it’ll be the best of their career. However it isn’t sadly. “Wrath” seems like an album that has been rushed, both with the sound quality and the strength (or lack there of) in the songs. The sound of the snare drum, the guitars and Randy’s vocals all seem patchy and not-well done, they have moved away from the sound of “Sacrament” and “Ashes Of The Wake.” This may have been a move they wanted, but it’s a move they shouldn’t have made.
The album starts off with a nice enough instrumental “The Passing” and it shows the change in sound of the band. Next comes “In Your Words,” which has a decent riff, but it seems that Lamb Of God are trying to become Pantera and get more groove laden riffs into their songs, this doesn’t work for them. Then Randy begins to vocalise, and his performance is not off to the best start and has actually dropped in quality after his showing on “Sacrament.” Though considering all of this, the song is decent enough. Next sounds the pummelling drumming of Chris Adler to begin the next song called “Set To Fail,” which again sounds like they want to be Pantera. The vocals are still not impressive, though the song does groove along well (Pantera-esque one might say.)
Over the next few songs “Contractor,” “Fake Messiah,” and “Grace,” the only stand out song in that small selection is “Grace,” which is more of a melodic though heavy song with a good riff, the as per-usual skilled drumming and surprisingly, Randy’s finest vocal moment on the album. This song is definitely the diamond in the rough of the album.
“Broken Hands” is the song that follows “Grace” and it starts of alright with a shuddering vocal piece though redeemed by the guitars. Overall this song isn’t the finest moment of Lamb Of God, but the double-bass of the song which drives the song home is the true calling of the song.
“Choke Sermon” and “Everything To Nothing” shows the band are going for a more thrash metal approach on these 2 songs, and it pulls out in a way, and these songs aren’t as weak as the first listen suggests.
The final 2 songs of the album are “Reclamation” and “Dead Seeds.” “Reclamation” is the album closer and as such is a strong song, though “Dead Seeds” has the most potential to be a live favourite amongst the fans.
In closing, “Wrath” is not the best album that Lamb Of God has put out, though it had potential as some of the songs suggest, but it seems that this band from
[6.5/10]
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