IN REVIEW: Lamb of God - "VII: Sturm Und Drang"

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Whereas most metal bands heading into their seventh album (counting their 1999 album as Burn the Priest, this is actually Lamb of God's eighth, but hey it's their title not mine) have either settled into a stagnant role in an effort to keep their fans happy or drifted away from metal in an effort to find new ones, Lamb of God find themselves in a more peculiar position. Through a tragic episode that saw a fan die and vocalist Randy Blythe incarcerated and charged with manslaughter, Lamb of God unwittingly have a lot riding on their seventh album; through the inevitable publicity Blythe's indictment brought to the band, there are a lot of ears paying attention to this record, curious as to what the band would do to respond.

As it turns out, all that turmoil acted as a very efficient means of inspiration; in addition to a recently published book, several tracks make passing references to the ordeal (512, the album's lead single, is named after the jail cell Blythe occupied in the Czech Republic). It also sees the band stretching out their sound ever so slightly while staying true to their brutal core; most notable in this regard is Overlord, which finds Blythe singing instead of screaming over a moody, Alice in Chains-like dirge before exploding into a crushing midsection that provides more typical Lamb of God fare. A couple of guest performances help the band reach as well; Deftones' Chino Moreno appears on Embers, lending his ethereal bellow and painting a pummeling song just a bit darker, while Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato (who seems to be everywhere these days) brings an otherworldly presence to the slow burning Torches.

Even on these least typical Lamb of God songs progress, the leash is snapped and we return to what we've come to expect from the group but, whereas I may have rolled my eyes at the approach five years ago, the performances here are more inspired and offer more in the way of substance than we may have gotten had this album been released five years ago. This is unquestionably a Lamb of God record, and one of their finest, to boot; what makes it so is the older and wiser Lamb of God we get on this record, the band that's been through some shit but come out of it driven rather than beaten.

July 24, 2015 • Epic
Highlights 512 • Overlord • Embers

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