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| 24 February 2009 - Epic Records / Roadrunner Records |
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1. The Passing
2. In your Words
3. Set to Fail
4. Contractor
5. Fake Messiah
6. Grace
7. Broken Hands
8. Dead Seeds
9. Everything to Nothing
10. Choke Sermon
11. Reclamation
Limited Edition bonustracks:
12. We Die Alone
13. Shoulder of your God
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| Review |
 17 / 20 |
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Lamb of God's new album, Wrath, has been out for about a month now; I've had plenty of time to listen to and evaluate it. It's not quite as immediate as any of their other albums, but it does return to the brutal glory days of New American Gosepel and As the Palaces Burn. I remember back in 2004, when LOG's album Ashes Of The Wake came out. At first, legions of hardcore fans despised LOG for signing to Epic. But when they actually listened to the album, they realized nothing had changed. Lamb of God had gotten a better production, and not much else had changed. Come 2006's Sacrament album, however, things changed a bit. Lamb of God's leads had gotten slightly more melodic, Randy had adopted a pseudo-melodic growl for a few moments, and they had stepped up production to a fault. It felt like LOG had gone mechanical. The riffs were there, the writing was there, but the brutality, power, and emotion were missing.
Enter Wrath. This album goes back to the bands roots, and is much heavier than Sacrament. All the worries are gone. Yes, Randy still has melodic moments, but this time around, they actually fit with the songs, like on "In Your Words" and "Set to Fail".
The production is suitably heavy and brutal this time. The guitars have a thick crunch, and on the Pantera-style grooves, they feel incredibly powerful and really hit you hard. "Contractor" is an immediate highlight, reminding you of the Burn The Priest song "Resurrection #9", with its fast and slow, crunching parts.
As mentioned before, this album takes a bit more time to sink in than the others. The songs aren't as instantly memorable, but it's for a reason. At first I was upset that Wrath lacked the memorable choruses (save for "Contractor"'s "GUARAN-F*CKING-TEED!" and the instant riffs a la "Ruin" or "Laid To Rest". Then I realized that Wrath was built as a collective album this time, and not as a collection of brutal songs. And it works. As time wore on, also, I got those things-the choruses and riffs are there, just you have to pay attention to get them right away.
This is the album Lamb of God needed to make at this point in their career. People complained of their same-sounding albums and Sacrament's overly accessible sound, and with Wrath, Lamb of God have fixed those issues. It still sounds like Lamb of God, but now it's a more mature sounding band. This is what we were all waiting for. Buy it, because it's awesome. Guaran-f*cking-teed.
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