LAMB OF GOD | Lamb Of God | Album Review

"The best punk rock and hardcore and metal has always come out of tumultuous times". That is a quote that Lamb Of God singer Randy Blythe gave to Consequence Of Sound when talking about the band's 2020 self-titled album. Originally scheduled for the month of May, the band pushed the album's release back weeks later to the middle of June due to the coronavirus and the shipment delays that could've harmed its commercial performance. There is no question about it. Lamb Of God is undeniably a flagship band in heavy metal and helped in bringing the metalcore sound to prominence during the earlier portion of their career, and they've never lost their popularity since. While I have personally been mixed on the band ever since getting into them during my metalcore phase, I can't deny that they've hit it out of the park every now and then, notable examples being in "Ashes Of The Wake" and their previous album, "VII: Sturm Und Drang". The eponymous tenth album from Lamb Of God, which is produced again by Josh Wilbur, is a wholly political album when it comes to the lyricism, but also contains the sound that many longtime fans have cherished. Taking another quote from Blythe about the record, he really did a good job at summing up what to expect from this new material, and also why this album went the self-titled route: "Putting only our name on it is a statement. This is Lamb Of God. Here and now." I think that sums everything up quickly and perfectly. 

As the album kicks off, you are greeted to two of the album's pre-released singles, "Memento Mori" and "Checkmate". The opening track takes some time to build with some softer instrumentation and whispered vocals before getting into the heavy riffage by Mark Morton and the aggressive growls from Randy Blythe. Dynamically, I think "Memento Mori" does work at introducing the style of the album and at nearly six minutes, it is an early highlight although this is nothing different from what the band has done before. The difference is that there is a political angle in the lyricism which is continued for the rest of the album. It is not great, but it's not terrible either. It's middle of the road. "Checkmate" follows, and I think this song is a little bit weaker than its predecessor. Sure, the writing is on point and there are some clever lines like "You try to pick the lesser but evil doesn't come in twos", but on the instrumental and on the vocal front, we've heard this material before on other Lamb Of God albums and even metalcore albums ripped from a similar cloth as this. There isn't as much to gravitate towards, really, besides the lyricism. That is the strength of not only these two songs, but the entire album as a whole. That's the element that drives most of the songs on this album in a poignant and memorable direction. To be fair, "Checkmate" is not awful by any means, and for what it is, I guess it's solid enough with its decent guitar riffs and drumming here and there, but it is nothing that changes the game entirely for this band.  

I think that description can be carried over for a good majority of the album as well. While some may like this album simply due to name value alone or if the person is simply a Lamb Of God fan, this project really is more of the same from this band with only a couple of minor deviations. It doesn't matter how well the lyrics are written in many tracks on the album, or how good Mark Morton's playing and new drummer Art Cruz's performance is. Structurally, they don't really push the envelope, and that's fine if the band's idea was to make an album that is undeniably theirs. After all, it is a self-titled album and Blythe did state that it's undeniably drenched in the band's identity. But, what I'm getting at is that if you stick to familiarity, you should have a little bit of an impact, and that does not come across as often on this project. "New Colossal Hate" is probably the best example of this. It is the typical metalcore structured song about hatred with run of the mill high scream vocals that bookend each line in the chorus, and poorly I might add. "Reality Bath" tries to be unique with upfront lyrics about how destructive Donald Trump is as a president and the calmer delivery from Randy Blythe with each verse, but it's still more of the same. And finally, "Resurrection Man" is objectively bad in my opinion. Aside from being the one song on the album with weak lyricism, it's also more of the same, but it's Drop C tuning instead of Drop D. It's disappointing since I want to like this band more, and they're a heavyweight in the genre, but they don't completely live up to their potential. 

Don't get me wrong- this album is definitely not awful. Absolutely not. You can easily tell that the band's political direction in the lyrics gave them drive and it feels like there is some potency here. Randy Blythe is a good songwriter in this regard. In addition to that, there are some standouts. The guest spots from Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed on "Poison Dream" and Chuck Billy of Testament on "Routes" are welcome additions, although I would have liked to see more from each guest vocalist. "Gears" is a solid enough song for what it is, even though it is fits the Lamb Of God formula like a glove or a puzzle piece. "Bloodshot Eyes" does sound a little different from the rest of the album, even though once again you can tell that this is a Lamb Of God track. None of these songs blew me away, but they're still the highlights on this mediocre album. I'm well aware that Lamb Of God has a massive fanbase and how well regarded they are in the metal scene, and that's where the allure comes from. However, this might be an unpopular opinion, but the tenth album from Lamb Of God is more of the same from a band that has the talent, but does not use it as often as they should. Overall, Lamb Of God's eponymous record is well produced and has several songs that will please their fans, but from an evolutionary standpoint, there isn't much that's impressive about this album as a whole. Nothing to hate in the new colossal kind of way, but nothing that impressive unless you are a hardcore Lamb Of God fan. 

RATING: 6/10 

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