Album Reviews

Lamb Of God - Resolution

Once a giant of American metal, Lamb of God seemed to lose a bit of steam after 2009's Wrath, but in all honesty, Resolution sounds like the band has never missed a step. While far from a technical powerhouse or a progressive opus, Resolution is full to bursting with energy and power. 

The slow opener, “Straight For The Sun,” serves little purpose aside from highlighting Josh Wilbur's truly excellent production. The drums are clear and powerful, and the guitars have just the right amount of sludge, giving every song just a little more punch. “Desolation” and “Ghost Walking” feed on this excellent production, never letting up on the gas pedal and letting each instrument shine (not to mention the throaty growls of Randy Blythe).

While there's not much variety on the album, a few songs are memorable simply by being significantly faster than anything else, like the frantic “Guilty” and the dissonant “Cheated.” Some may wish for a few more guitar solos, but “Invictus,” in particular, lets Mark Morton shine. And yes, there are a few choruses that border on the overused metalcore template, but even these are intense and well-executed, most notably in “Insurrection.” Clean riffs and driving drums provide an epic background, and Blythe's screams of “Start over again and again and again and again!” are almost terrifying.

It's worth mentioning that, among fourteen tracks, only one qualifies as filler (the unremarkable “To the End”). And the album only improves as it progresses, including “Terminally Unique,” which is loaded with memorable riffs, and “Visitation,” which includes a truly soaring chorus.

It all culminates with “King Me.” At six-and-a-half minutes, it's easiest the album's longest song, but the band makes good use of it. Ethereal female vocals and spoken verses provide a stark contrast to Blythe's goosebumps-worthy screams of “King Me is killing me!” A string section appears for the first time here, and it only adds to the epic scale of the track; and as icing on the cake, the lyrics are actually quite compelling: “I keep walking past the places I was born in/ Now their faces are blank, shiny, and dead/ I don’t recognize a thing, I can’t recall them/ A closed book that I can never read again.” A fitting end to an excellent album.

It's hard to find much wrong with Resolution. It manages to avoid the cheesy cash-ins of metalcore, the staid songwriting of more mainstream metal acts, and the inaccessibility of progressive metal all at once. This is a metal album that anyone can sink their teeth into―and everyone should.

Photo Courtesy: Radu Adam (flickr)

 
Photo Courtesy: Erica Cassella

Main Photo Courtesy: primaryignition.com 

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