Lamb of God – Sacrament
As the follow-up to Lamb of God’s smash record Ashes of the Wake, their latest effort Sacrament could be the prime example of taking elements from a previous album and sticking to your guns. The band has decided to bust into a more mainstream sound and it’s a formidable force in a highly defining year for new metal.
“Redneck” is the first single off the album and Randy Blythe drops in with his growl as guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler add a couple riffs that could be a tribute to Dimebag Darrell. The next two songs, “Pathetic” and “Foot to the Throat” sound a lot like Ashes to me. Thrash to open, then half that speed into a breakdown with lots of double-bass from Chris Adler, whose drumming is extremely tight the entire album.
The rest of the album delivers straight-up Lamb of God metal that has worked for the band for years, only with more of a mainstream feel in both production and styles. The fact that the band can blend together so many styles of metal and hardcore music and make it look effortless is a fascinating thing. Even though Sacrament isn’t entirely groundbreaking, it has enough power and anger to propel it to even greater heights than the band has achieved before.
