The packaging
The cover has a sort of camoflauge look...green and black skeletal birds about to drop bullets on the masses. Very sharp looking. The booklet has lyrics, thanks, and a photo...artwise it continues with the war theme.
The music
Well, if you look at my other reviews I tend to really disapprove of music that gets a lot of hype. I feel people are idiots who praise music that does not deserve praise and then ignore music that should be heard. Lamb of God is a band that's gotten their fair of hype.
And I'll be the first to say, this band actually deserves the praise they have been getting.
They are certainly not perfect but they're better than 99% of the shit out there.
The band's last album "As The Palaces Burn" was good except the vocals really did not work for me. The best way to describe it, is they almost sounded gurggled. It really didn't work that well and this problem has been solved. The vocal style is still sort of strange, but it's unique and it gives the band an element that stands out. Actually, after listening to this, I want to give "As The Palaces Burn" another shot. The only difference between this one and "Palaces," to my ears, is the improved vocals. Musically, they're heading down the same path...the difference between the first album "New American Gospel" and "Palaces" was pretty significant and shocking. It's been a lot less time between these two so there is little progression but little is needed.
My only gripe with this is that in my old age, I appreciate songs with the whole verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus format. A structure that makes it a nicely put together song. Lamb of God tends to go for the "attack" format. That is, some of the songs have a few that lines that repeat sort of like chorus, but most have the format of, verse-bridge-solo-verse.
Cannibal Corpse did this back in the day and still do but to a lesser extent. Break out "Tomb of the Mutilated" and every song sounds alike in the sense that none really sound like a song. Lamb of God are not nearly that drastic. The songs do have some structure...but I mean...other than "Laid to Rest" and "Now You've Got Something To Die For" there aren't too many "hooks" on this album. I like the album, it's incredibly heavy and sounds great...but because of the lack of hooks nothing stands out after repeated listens. When this happens, the more listens, the more you pick up on the nuances but for a short attention spanned gent like myself, that can take months. In the meantime, this is an album that actually will get listens months for now...it's been a month since I picked this up and it consistently makes it way into my CD player. Plenty of great albums don't last that long in my rotation, so right away I have to give this a strong recommendation.
However...Lamb of God still works. And I can't explain why really. I suppose it's because the music isn't so insane and pounding that you can actually listen and appreciate it and because the vocals, though snarled, usually can still be understood.
I like the band's sound...it's not death metal, it's not thrash metal, and it's not the whole European "melodic death metal." They have a very classic metal sound that incorporates all of those styles. The title track has got spoken passages (I'm not sure if it's clips, someone reading actual writings, or completely made up lines) from soldiers talking about the war in Iraq while the music is pretty brutal...solos from various people including Megadeth's Chris Poland. That's metal.
Lyrically, well...these guys aren't happy with the current administration, the war in Iraq, or seemingly just the way America is these days and who can blame them? The lyrics are sprinkled with mythological and biblical references...lots of subtleties but just in case you're slow they hit you with "the sins of the father, atoned by the son...it's when murder is justice that martryrs are made...a one-gun salute for the new independence day." They're displeased and I think it's great to have a vocally left-leaning metal band. Right on.
As a fan of metal, I want to thank this band for actually playing metal. There's no hardcore breakdowns in this...there's no emo vocals...all we have is brutal, real metal that is miles above any of the other so-called new saviors of metal.
My advice: Buy this and listen to quite a few times before passing judgment. This one might be easy to just dismiss as being "too much..."too death"..."too growly"..."too amelodic." It's all there, the album is great, but it has to grow on you.
