Lamb of God - Resolution

Richmond, Virginia metallers return early this year with ‘Resolution’, their sixth album to date (the seventh if you count ‘Burn the Priest’). Lamb of God is one of the most succesful modern metal bands of our days, some have dubbed them the Pantera of the ‘00s and I can see no wrong in that as the band’s distinguishable riffs  and grooves have built a trademark sound that has led them to worlwide success. ‘Resolution’ is here to continue that tradition bringing new elements to the table and finally Lamb of God puts an end to our anticipation,delivering the record of their career.

The album begins with ‘Straight for the Sun’ a short song with a doom/sludge vibe, which is something diffent for the band but it fits great setting the mood for the mayhem that will follow some minutes later. ‘Desolation’ and ‘Ghost Walking’ are up next,most of you are already familiar with those two being the first singles of the record. Typical Lamb of God songs, the tempo returns to its natural high levels, and the riffs come crushing one after the other, destroying everything in their path. Chris Adler’s tasteful blastbeats on ‘Guilty’ are insane as is the drumming in the whole record, the very last riff of the song is a personal favourite of mine. The song ‘The Number Six’ is a brilliant example of the experimentation of the band featuring a remarkable middle section, the transitions from the clean guitar part with the spoken vocals to the lunatical outburts of Randy Blythe are breathtaking, the choruses on this track as well as the rest of ‘’Resolution’’ are huge and quite catchy despite the harshness of the vocals. ‘’Barbarosa’’ is a short intrumental,and  a nice break from the heavy stuff making the recod more diverse and balanced.  The tenth song ‘’Insurrection’’ will definately attract your attention with the first verse that features clean singing from Randy Blythe, proving that he is more capable of a vocalist that we may have thought, an astonishing melodic track from start to finish, definately a highlight of ‘Resolution’ and the surprises aren’t over yet. The final track of the album ‘King Me’, a six plus minute epic, kicks off with a mellow, clean southern-like sounding guitar part with spoken vocals from Randy Blythe, only to explode to a majestic section with the addition of an orchestra. The strings definately add to the atmosphere of the song which contains some incredible dynamics and a menacing vocal performance which is completed by the string ensemblein the background which is present in the choruses of the song as well.

Musically speaking, each member of Lamb of God is absolutely at the top of its game. Mark Morton and Willie Adler are truly riff machines, delivering some really heavy moments on this record, the solos and the lead sections are very pleasing, although some similarities of ‘Redneck’ can be spotted on ‘Ghost Walking’, there isn’t a bad song on this album at all. Chris Adler is definitely one of the best drummers oute there and this record is just more proof for that statement and John Campbell’s pummeling bass completes the sound but it’s Randy Blythe who really shines on this record. The diversity and power of his voice is impressive and unique, there is no denial that he has outdone himself with this record.

All in all, It seems Lamb of God’s finest hour is now, ‘Resolution’ really expands and pushes the boundaries in what they do, not to a great extent but every change and experimentation is always welcome to spice things up a little bit.Most of the songs are typical Lamb of God  but that’s what everyone exprected from them in the first place. The record could be their best one to date, and if you love metal you should definitely listen to it even if you are not a Lamb of God fan, you will surely be soon after. 

Standout tracks: Desolation, Ghost Walking, Insurrection, King Me
Also check: Burn the Priest, Throwdown, Pantera
Tracklist:
1. Straight for the Sun
2. Desolation
3. Ghost Walking
4. Guilty
5. The Undertow
6. The Number Six
7. Barbarosa
8. Invictus
9. Cheated
10. Insurrection
11. Terminally Unique
12. To the End
13. Visitation
14. King Me

8/10  Lefteris K