American metal titans Lamb of God have finally unleashed their first studio album in five years and there is no doubt it has been worth the wait.

The heavily teased offering dropped only two days ago and has already soared to the top spot on the iTunes download chart and netted over 4 million streams on Spotify. With an original release date of early May, delayed due to COVID-19, fans have been clambering for this tenth studio album from the band, and now that we have heard it, we simply cannot get enough.

Riffs have always been one of the band’s strongest weapons in their arsenal and you will find them in ample quantities here. The way guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler join forces to create those heavy, driving sounds and distinct groove metal feel is nothing short of masterful. The rhythm section of John Campbell (bass) and Art Cruz (drums) feels like it has a textbook perfect foundation, before the book is thrown away to allow their innate musical genius to take over. Campbell and Cruz provide the perfect spine to this album, a sturdy and powerful frame for the guitars to cling to.

And then come the incredible vocals of frontman Randy Blythe. His deep, melodic growls are practically a Lamb of God trademark and give us the perfect delivery system for their powerful lyrics. There is a lot of rage on this one. While it does hold heavy political themes, with the band’s views on the current state of their country made abundantly clear, it is not whiny in the least. It is intelligent and bears a significant amount of deep thought and reflection. 

Lamb of God have never minced words and this latest album is no exception. They are angry. And they make it known in their signature loud and unapologetic way. But they are also incredibly insightful, looking at the system overall and pointing out things need to change. They are not merely finger pointing at certain individuals. That would be too easy. Instead, they have taken a step back to carefully examine the entire wider situation and adopt a mature, holistic view.

Overall, this album is everything fans expected and hoped for from these metal legends and more. It is heavy, loud, musically brilliant and lyrically masterful. We may have waited five years for this one, but now that it has dropped, we have been thoroughly thrilled with what is a flawless and fantastic metal album. 

 metal 

Author: Harley Houghton

Harley Houghton is a writer and blogger, based in Melbourne, Australia. Her passions include music, especially metal, gaming and comics. Check out her blog www.harleysmadhouse.com and follow her on Twitter.