Lamb Of God

Lamb Of God

Epic, 2020

http://www.lamb-of-god.com

REVIEW BY: Pete Crigler

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 07/07/2020

After five years, endless touring (including an insane amount with Slayer), a punk covers album that was damn good, and most notably, losing drummer extraordinaire Chris Adler and replacing him with Art Cruz (Prong, Winds Of Plague), LOG has returned with a new original studio album.

After a slow burn, opening track “Memento Mori” rises to show the band haven’t lost a step. The only thing are the drums; they don’t sound all that different from Adler’s stint, but that’s the sound you come to expect from Lamb after all these years, so I guess you find someone who can replicate his style and play with a different sort of flash than Chris did. The song is great, yet another in the line of great songs by this band; it’s haunting, esoteric – everything you’d want in a great metal song amidst the shitstorm that has been 2020.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

“Reality Bath” is a great track, plenty of double bass and a way to shake things up a bit. Lately, there have been plenty of people to say that Lamb has gotten stale, that they sound the same on every record. As a diehard fan since 2006, I can say that every record has at least one song that sounds similar to one from the previous disc, but that’s more than outweighed by the sheer power of the band’s heaviest material. Such as “Reality Bath” that shows them not wanting to slow down and still pummeling their audiences with pure metal. And that’s just the way we like it.

“Checkmate” is a great opportunity for Randy Blythe to shred his vocal cords again with a great groove behind him. The band finally picks up the tempo with “Routes,” featuring Chuck Billy from Testament; this is one of their quickest tracks, and boy, does it kick ass. Speedy, pummeling, and in your face – it’s just fantastic.

“New Colossal Hate” is just average. It doesn’t really explore anything new and it’s one of the few tracks that really doesn’t do anything for me. Same with “Resurrection Man,” a song that’s wildly mediocre with some really great guitar work from Mark Morton and Willie Adler. Guest Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed comes full tilt out of the speakers on “Poison Dream” and gives the band a much-needed kick in the ass. Paired with a killer solo from Morton, the song becomes one of the album’s best.

All in all, this is a record that is just average. The band sounds as great as always, but there’s just nothing kicking me in the chest as on previous discs. It’s just tepid and not much else. Still, just tepid for Lamb Of God is miles away from perfectly average for any other metal band that’s been doing this for over 20 years.

Rating: B

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