Confession time: As enthralled as I was with Sacrament, Lamb Of God’s 2006 release, the band fell out of my circle of interest shortly after that.
There’s no real good reason for this. Maybe it was I had played Sacrament so much that I found myself tired of the band. Maybe it’s because I didn’t believe they could ever top that particular release. Maybe my interests just pulled me in other directions.
Whatever the case, I’ve finally gotten around to listening to Wrath, the sixth studio effort (fifth if you don’t include their debut as Burn The Priest)… and, I have to admit I was absolutely wrong, whatever the reason. Everything that Randy Blythe and crew had done prior to this album was leading them up to the best album of their career.
If you thought you knew Lamb Of God prior to Wrath… well, certain things haven’t changed. You’re still going to have the dual guitar attack from Willie Adler and Mark Morton guaranteed to melt your face. You’re still going to have the solid anchoring bass work from John Campbell, and the frantic drum work from Chris Adler. Oh—and Blythe’s screeching vocals still ring out clear as ever. Even the change in producers from Machine to Josh Wilbur doesn’t negatively affect this; if anything, it shows that Lamb Of God always knew how to work with the best in the industry.
But the opening acoustic guitar work of “The Passing” that eventually leads into some of the best six-string work Lamb Of God has ever laid down on compact disc might throw the listener for a momentary loop. The thing is, it works, and works well as a yin/yang dichotomy that gets the listener’s interest from the first notes and refuses to let go of one’s eardrums until another acoustic guitar assault (along with ambient sounds) leads “Reclamation” into its end. (“Reclamation” is, I believe, Lamb Of God’s longest track to this point in their career, but they make the most out of every second of the track’s 7:07 length.)
Between these tracks, you’re going to find some of the best work Lamb Of God had done to this stage in their career. “Set To Fail” shows why it was deserving of its Grammy nomination, while “Fake Messiah” is an absolute audio assault that you don’t want to end. “Choke Sermon” and “Dead Seeds” also are excellent tracks; in fact, there is not a single dud contained within these 11 songs.
The question then becomes obvious: how does Lamb Of God top Wrath? Seeing that I questioned whether they could outdo Sacrament, I know better now than to ask that question. I guess I’ll find out as I tackle the rest of the band’s discography.
Until I get to those discs, I’m comfortable declaring Wrath to be one of the best metal albums in this particular niche of the genre, and demands to be heard. Don’t make the mistake I did of not getting to this for nearly 20 years; pick a copy up post haste.