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One of the band's best, most infectious head bang worthy albums in years.-
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| Lamb of God: Resolution |
Groove Metal, Metalcore
Epic Records
January 24th, 2012
- Straight for the Sun - 2:27
- Desolation - 3:54
- Ghost Walking - 4:31
- Guilty - 3:24
- The Undertow - 4:47
- The Number Six - 5:22
- Barbarosa - 1:36
- Invictus - 4:13
- Cheated - 2:36
- Insurrection - 4:51
- Terminally Unique - 4:21
- To the End - 3:49
- Visitation - 3:59
- King Me - 6:37
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| Review Information |
Release length: 56:26
Review posted on January 24th, 2012
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| | Overall Score: 8.5/10 |
 
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
New American Gospel (2000) • As the Palaces Burn (2003) • Ashes of the Wake (2004) • Sacrament (2006) • Wrath (2009) • Resolution (2012)
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| EP(s): |
Pure American Metal (2004)
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| Split(s): |
Unholy Alliance (DVD) (2007)
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| Single(s): |
Black Label (2001) • 11th Hour (2003) • Ruin (2003) • As the Palaces Burn (2004) • Laid to Rest (2004)
Now You've Got Something to Die For (2005) • Redneck (2006) • Walk with Me in Hell (2006) • Walk with Me in Hell (Sampler) (2008)
Contractor (2008) • In Your Words (2009) • Set to Fail (2009) • Hit the Wall (2011) • Decibel Flexi Series - Hit the Wall (2011)
Ghost Walking (2011)
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| Compilation(s): |
Hourglass: The Super Deluxe Set (Box Set) (2010) • Hourglass: The Ultimate Anthology (Box Set) (2010)
Hourglass Volume I - The Underground Years (2010) • Hourglass Volume II - The Epic Years (2010)
Hourglass Volume II - The CD Anthology (2010)
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| Live CD(s): |
Killadelphia (2005) • Wrath Tour 2009 - 2010 (2012)
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| DVD(s): |
Terror and Hubris (2004) • Killadelphia (2005) • Walk with Me in Hell (2008)
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| Review |
Since Sacrament, the Groove Metal/Metalcore act Lamb of God seemed to be struggling musically. Much of the material being churned out had started to lose much of what made it unique for its time, and eventually started caving towards many Groove and even Southern Metal influences such as Pantera, eventually becoming nothing more than mimicry with a hint of Metalcore to keep from plagiarizing. For the band's sixth album under this name, Resolution, the tables have turned. Lamb of God return to the sound they once had, devoid of a copy and paste idol worship themed album, and it's about damned time. But is this the album fans have been patiently waiting for over the years?
Resolution is the savior to the atrocity that was Wrath. The album does find the higher audio quality coming in again, but the instruments and the distortions used manage to save the day from becoming sterile, and honestly it sounds fantastic. There's no other way to describe the album other than polished, absent of the muddier atmosphere and dirty Southern vibe commonly associated with the group, but this one has some really aggression and deepness to it that works in their favor. The instruments are all pretty loud, with the guitars have a bit of a blunt distortion to them that is saved largely due to what deep distortion exists, and the bass guitar appearing in the background just enough to make an impact. The drumming here is easily the most impressive though. The bass kicks are rich and thunderous, really giving the album a strong bite and with the intimidating click that is present, having some tight and even wooden sounding snares that pack a good deal of energy to the mix while the cymbals crash loudly and dominantly in the same manner the shouting vocals are here with the greatly varied range, as well as lack of vocal distortion once more, or even any sort of major studio editing that would become obvious.
This is all pushed right to the forefront with "Straight for the Sun," a song rather out of character for the group. This slower paced track is one of the very few to have any sort of atmosphere, and that's thanks to the dirtier Sludge sound against a droning, slow pace. The track actually holds a pretty crushing sound as the pace allows the bass to come through nicely, but then that regular distortion kicks in as it bleeds into "Desolation," and the lighter tone of the release comes into play. This is fine given the pounding bass kicks, and all around solid performance from the band. This track immediately feels tight, bringing in chords that are a little more complex which adds to the hostility of the song, and even the infectious groove that will find your head banging right along with it immediately. This is the perfect way to kick-start the album, and really establishes what the listener will be greeted with throughout the release.
Much like "Straight for the Sun," there is a little extra atmospheric kick with "Ghost Walking" due to the rawer acoustic recording at the start feeding into that Southern vibe, but it's loosely carried over into the song. However, the speed, energy, and backing vocals during the chorus to represent gang chants that this one packs greatly outweighs the need for any sort of environment. It's understandable why this song was chosen as one of the singles. With that said, it's actually kind of shocking "The Number Six" wasn't released as one as well. This song has the same kind of energetic and aggressive impact, though really focusing more ont he Groove element to make the track as catchy as possible. The chorus also features some energetic singing coupled with the screaming, and later on there actually are real gang chants during an extended section of Metalcore material with less signature Groove Metal riffs backing it up, as well as again towards the end of the track. The overall impact is undeniable, as this track really hammers home a perfectly executed hard-hitting and yet slightly melodic track that seems to bring a little more raw emotion into the equation than other tracks.
One of the concerns anyone would have here is how the breakdowns come out. Thankfully there are very few, and most of the time if there are, they blend in with the song and maintain a generally faster pace. Sometimes they do go a little slower, but "Straight for the Sun" again puts these worries out of mind with how heavy that track sounded at such a trudging manner. "Guilty" really features the first obvious breakdown, and the band builds it up nicely with a solid transition that leaves some tension with the listener until the well-timed bass drop occurs in a manner that easily will send anyone in range of the music into a flurry, or make the crowd a live show go absolutely nuts. This, and many others, sound both rich and intense from how heavy the deeper chords come off, as well as the more dominant bass in these passages, sometimes building back up in speed rather fast, but never really violating the common interpretation of what the breakdown intensity is all about. But the exact opposite is found with "Cheated." Much of the Groove aspect is left behind, and some Pantera references can be felt thanks to the start of the track and the overall intensity and speed being similar to the foundation of "Fucking Hostile," but overall it isn't too bad a song, but it's far from one of the greatest. It definitely feels like a complete withdrawal from the rest of the material, and just seems to kick in very randomly. There's the raw aggression present, yes, but there's just nothing really worth talking about with the song at the end of the day, and just ends up being far from catchy, or even head bang worthy.
This is sad since this is where the release does start to shift directions a bit, and not always for the better. "Insurrection" is an alright song, but seems to push what "The Number Six" did a little too far, and ends up just being a little too commercialized a bland. "Terminally Unique" is another track that is alright, but just doesn't offer too much aside towards the end when the bass kicks blast away with their thunderous sound against accompanying chugging, and some riffs that feel more Melodic Death Metal with a hint of Metalcore. The Groove Metal elements come into play here and there, but it just feels like there's too much happening all at once, leaving the song to feel like nothing but a cluttered mess. Finally you also have "King Me," which is easily the most out-of-nowhere song of the bunch. The track carries that slow, clean sound that "Insurrection" started with, having a spoken word section kicking off the song and some symphonic elements for much of the start until it finally picks up and gets back into the Groove of things (pun unavoidable, sorry). But, this isn't too bad in the end. The additional symphonies do appear again in the chorus, and really make a more dynamic impact to the song. The only real gripe is that it doesn't do much for the raw aggression and any other emotion this, or any other song presents. While seeing what the band can do with this additional element to the music in the future would be nice, it's also something that is not necessary given how strong almost all of this album ends up being.
With a few songs here and there that simply don't live up to the intensity that the majority of the album has, largely at the end with a few exceptions, Resolution is easily the best Lamb of God album in a long, long time. Until "Insurrection" kicked in, it was rare to not get caught up with the aggression and downright catchy material on every song here. Lamb of God's performance on this album is also the tightest it's ever been, and just feels so much more mature than their past offerings. If you were once a fan of Lamb of God and let down by their most recent efforts, and even if you weren't but just like solid Groove Metal, then Resolution is a surprise album you'll have on repeat for quite some time.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Epic Records. |
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