While it’s true that Virginia’s Lamb of God have aged into a modern metal institution over the course of their thirteen year existence—eighteen, if their time spent under the Burn the Priest moniker is taken into account—the undeniably talented quintet have yet to craft an album which hits below gut level, matching the cerebral with brute, physical force.
Up until this point, Lamb of God have carved their name and career in a post-Pantera world, filling in a void left by said Texas metal legends via their own swampy, Southern-styled take on the power-groove/thrash genre. In this, LoG have been enormously successful, of course, yet their album presentation has—like Pantera before them—been based primarily upon aggression and visceral, knee jerk passion; an attack which, although undeniably effective, doesn’t leave behind many conceptual layers to peel for the listener.
This is why the band’s latest effort, titled Resolution, proves to be such an interesting, if not entirely successful, listen; a step outside of the band’s established comfort zone a bit, and a respectable attempt at widening their creative parameters. Whereas Wrath failed to build upon the kill-riff arsenal set down by such solid forebears as 2006’s Sacrament or 2004’s Ashes of the Wake—sounding a bit stale and uninspired—this follow-up, at the very least, displays a wide-eyed and interested Lamb of God, the songwriting core of vocalist D. Randall Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell and drummer Chris Adler sounding defiantly into the material they’ve composed here for Resolution.
In all honesty, however, the band’s central theme of bludgeoning percussion, frantic guitar work and Blythe’s hollowed-out, throat-scraping snarl is still there, without much difference placed against the untrained ear. Multiple listens bring out the band’s sludgy, doom metal heritage, however, most obviously placed within the album’s opening cut, “Straight for the Sun.” It’s the more memorable melody of a late album track like “Terminally Unique” which first pricks up the ears, however, tempered by the traditional, “Redneck”-esque retread of “To the End” which balances out Resolution as an album both new and old Lamb of God fans might be able to appreciate.
Further note should be placed to album closer “King Me,” which does its best to close the album out in grandiose fashion—complete with strings and female accompaniment—and more or less succeeds. With all the hype and press release hyperbole surround this supposed stylistic re-jump, however, expectations are bound to be let down a bit in the end, for “King Me,” despite all its bells ‘n whistles, somehow seems unfinished; a great idea which could possibly have been perfected even further by stripping away a bit more of the band’s classic aggression in favor something a bit more dynamic.
Indeed, Lamb of God once again prove fairly single-minded in intent here on Resolution, with the end results not really sounding much more than a ‘typical’ LoG record, for better or worse. For the band’s fans, Resolution is more of the same, albeit backed by an amped, pissed sense of urgency missing from Wrath. While their respect and standing in the metal community has indeed been earned here in 2012, the feeling of Resolution not quite achieving its potential remains unshakable.
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