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Lamb Of God - New American Gospel
Lamb Of God - New American Gospel
Metal Blade - 2001
By Patrick Russell
This band used to be called “Burn the Priest.” Their first name was cooler.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, down to the music. I would say that Lamb of God falls into the trash deathmetal/hardcore category. The guitars are throwing good thrash-style riffs and the vocalist is a shouter/screamer, which brings the hardcore sound to the band. In a way, Lamb of God reminds of Meshuggah, in that they use quite a bit of syncopation and the drums aren’t always doing what you’d expect.
In fact, the drums are fairly acrobatic, with a lot of cool double-bass work and some blasts. The guitars are kind of mid-rangy and clear, and I like that. The bass isn’t too far up, more thumping along in the background, but if it wasn’t there, you’d miss it. The vocalist sounds like he has food poisoning really bad, got bit by a bear, and is really pissed about the whole thing. I like him. The production was done by Steve Austin (“Today is the Day”) and it sounds like it, very analog and clear. The tone on the kick drum, however, is annoying. It sounds flat and is pushed up in the mix. Everything else is in its place.
I think these guys have got a good thing going for them. Their songs are well written and interesting. They avoid most of the standard formats and always throw surprises at you (“In the Absence of the Sacred” is one such song). They all seem to know their instruments and aren’t afraid to push the envelope a little. Steve Austin does guest vocals on “Terror and Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard” (yes, that is a song title), and it is one pissed-off sonic trip. I recommend New American Gospel (good title!) to people who are into Meshuggah and that whole sound, as well as to people not afraid to try metal with a newer (not nu-metal) sound to it. Very pissed-off and well executed metal here for your listening torture.
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