New American Gospel

Woa, a band with their own sound. Of course I could say this for their Burn The Priest album as well, but as Lamb of God they've really marked off their own corner in musicland with New American Gospel.

Their sound has become thicker (less thick than on the later 'As the Palaces Burn'), and also more accurate. No more occasional smudgy buzz-riffs as with BtP, but razorsharp precision riffing, semi-staccato or otherwize, and accompanying drums and vocals. These guys know exactly what they're doing: they're delivering a kick in the face with remarkable self-contained violence.

Speaking of the drums: Ye Gods! Chris Adler can DRUM! This guy can drum amazingly tight and well-timed. Drum-riffs are actually used as a seperate niche in the sound. Sometimes I'd almost say he was actually converting thrash-metal guitarriffs to polyrythmic drum-patterns. The drumssound isn't meaty at all, it's more 'tock-tock-tik-tock'-esque, but this means the overall sound comes out well instead of being drowned by thumping drums. At any rate, this guy keeps surprising me with the way he drums. Often staccato, and very varied, it really builds out the guitar-sound, sometimes throwing in odd timing signatures.

Then the vocals, razor-sharp high-mid range growly shrieks, often follow the rythm of the music (which is odd for vocals). I can't make out most of the lyrics this way, but Blythe's vocals sound menacing. He doesn't sound angry, or enraged, but violent.

If I had to list top-songs, I'd be giving a tracklisting minus 'A Warning' and 'Pariah', but I'll list 'The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion' and 'Confessional' as 'personal most favorite'.

This is an album I intensely enjoy (if that much wasn't obvious from the review), as almost every song has elements I particularly like, and Lamb of God's sound has me in awe. The only possible quip with this album would be that not every song sounds totally different from the others, as there are common elements, but that's minor since the basis is excellent anyway, and I'm sooner thirsting for more than less.