Production-wise, the album sounds huge - but perhaps a little rawer than usual mix-wise. The band worked again with Josh Wilbur here, who seems to get the best out of Lamb of God, and the guitar tones here are fierce - but perhaps the player who benefits the most from the rawer mix is bassist John Campbell, whose playing feels much more present here than is often the case. The opening title track is very much Lamb of God 101, though, with the experimentation left to later in the album. Some staccato drum stabs and a fuzzy guitar lead kick things off, with the song building towards the first of many huge riffs to be found on the album. The intro has three parts, the aforementioned opening, the same guitar lead backed by groovier drumming, and the song's main riff - which is a real headbanger. The band's trademark grooves are very much present from the off, with southern patterns and mid-paced chugs ever-present throughout the song - whilst frontman Randy Blythe sounds like he has not aged a day since the early days of the band. His growls during the stop-start verses are as good as ever, with the staccato guitar and bass patterns working around his lyrics - whilst drummer Art Cruz ensures that the grooves remain throughout. The chorus is more anthemic, and it ups the pace somewhat, whilst returning to the fuzzy guitar lead from the intro. There is little here that moves the needle from the classic Lamb of God sound, but it sounds as fresh as ever - and it sets the tone for what is to follow. Parasocial Christ is a much thrashier song - mixing much faster-paced sections with traditional mid-paced grooves. It is not a song that stands on ceremony, as it opens with a barrelling thrash riff, backed by some of Cruz's most intense drumming on the album. Grooves are thrown out of the window here, as the fast thrash sections really hark back to some of the venomous moments on 2003's As the Palaces Burn. Not everything races along, though, and the song is a great mix of furious pace and trademark grooves. The later chorus is much more typical of the band's sound, with Blythe's anthemic vocal hooks barking out over the top of some choppy, mid-paced riffs - whilst some bridge-like sections see Cruz come to the fore with some percussive and prominent drum breaks. Given the thrashy nature of the song's bulk, though, a couple of blistering guitar solos are also thrown in - which are not something that the band do all that often. If Parasocial Christ contains some of the album's fastest moments, then the sludgy Sepsis contains some of the slowest. The song opens with a big, dirty bassline from Campbell - beneath which a hollow drum pattern sits and over which Blythe starts to deliver some rather demonic vocals, part-spoken/part-sung. Lamb of God have rarely sounded this dirty and primal, but the sludgy sound works well for them - and it is great to see Campbell essentially leading the song for quite a while. Even when the guitars join in properly they generally just follow the bass' lead - and the stoner vibes created by the song are a strange mix of bluesy and heavy. The song does change as it moves along, though, with a drum break giving way to a more typical riff-led section which ups the pace and channels the band's core sound for a period - before the dirty riffing is returned to as the song fades to a close.
The Killing Floor, despite opening with a few seconds of somewhat more melodic guitar playing, returns very much to the band's core sound - although this is another track with some thrashy vibes. There are plenty of southern-sounding riffs, especially as the song kicks in and then later during another memorable chorus, but the verses are faster than is often the case for Lamb of God - with Cruz laying into his double bass drums at times for a relentless drive, whilst occasional blast beats and higher-pitched screams from Blythe add a strange, extreme metal edge to the song. Generally the riffing is very much as expected, though, including a very Pantera-esque juddering bridge section later on - which is later overlaid with some strange guitar leads. Changing up the pace again, El Vacío is the closest thing here to a ballad - and the song is one of those murky, clean vocal-led slower songs that the band have been doing over the past decade or so. These songs often have a bit of an Alice in Chains vibe, and this one is no different - but it is also a bit heavier than some of the band's other similar songs, with clean verses and a heavier chorus. Morton and fellow guitarist Willie Adler lay down melodic clean guitar patterns and aching leads during the verses, which are backed by subtle drumming and overlaid with Blythe's ever-improving clean vocals. Blythe is surprisingly expressive whilst operating in this manner, despite him essentially whispering - and the contrast when the big chorus kicks in with a flurry of loud drums and heavier guitars makes his dynamic and powerful growls really shine. These slower numbers are never my favourites from Lamb of God, but they help to add some variety to each album - and this one acts as a welcome change of pace. St. Catherine's Wheel feels unapologetically typical following the semi-ballad, with a southern riff fading in from the distance - which then hits hard once it is heard properly, the buzzing chords and Cruz's deliberate bass drum work interlocking nicely. Despite the song being very typically Lamb of God, there is a bit of variety throughout. Blythe's verse vocals feel a bit punkier than usual, and there is a bit of a hardcore edge on show at times - but the chorus is one of the band's true anthemic moments, with hooky, shout-along vocals and some classic grooves. Brief bass-led sections help to shake things up, though, returning to a stoner-esque sound for a period, whilst another guitar solo is deployed here - allowing some fast-paced shred to mix with the grooves elsewhere. Blunt Force Blues continues the focus on the band's core sound here, but it is perhaps a bit more of a chugging song than is sometimes typical. There are plenty of groovy riffs throughout, but some of the guitar patterns feel a bit more traditional heavy metal - which is maybe fitting given that 'blues' is in the song's title. These simpler moments are not utilised too regularly, but they do help to shake things up before the next southern groove kicks in - whilst subtle synths are also used in places to add a cold, atmospheric backing. This is a song which has grown on me a bit since first hearing it. It is not as hooky as some of the band's efforts, and it lacks a standout chorus, but the riffing variety is welcome - and there is a strong breakdown later on.
Bully might be the album's least interesting number. Nothing here is bad, and the album is just shy of 45 minutes long so it flies by, but Bully just does not really grab hold. It very much follows the band's typical pattern, but it does nothing interesting with it - and there are no big hooks to make up for this lack of musical interest. Even a mediocre song can sometimes be saved by a huge chorus, but this song lacks that - and overall it feels a little too slow and plodding. It lacks the dirt of Sepsis or the emotive balladry of El Vacío to make its slower pace pop - and it just feels like a bit of a rambling, slightly slower than mid-pace tune which lacks any meaningful hooks. Snippets of riffs and the odd drum break add interest - but overall the song is the one here that does the least for me. A Thousand Years picks things up again, though, with Campbell once again opening things up with a dirty bassline. Like the previous song, this one is on the slower side - but it feels vital and dirty thanks to a bluesy swagger created by a Black Sabbath-esque riff, the strong bass presence, and Blythe's use of both clean and harsh vocals throughout to switch things up. The song overall is cleaner than Sepsis, but there are shades of that sludge feel here - but really there is just a strong Sabbath-esque feel during the anthemic riff-led sections, whilst Blythe delivers a hooky chorus in amongst this creeping heaviness. The melodic clean backing vocals work well, too, and a spoken bridge section later leads into a bluesy and melodic guitar solo which fits nicely with the song's old-school vibe. This song feels like Lamb of God trying to write a 1970s-style metal song - and it works well. The penultimate number Devise/Destroy opens slowly, with distant clean guitars - before a faster-paced riff kicks in and the song picks up the pace compared to the previous couple of numbers. There is a welcome energy here, then, following the slower grooves that came before - although it never reaches the thrash-like feel of some of the earlier numbers, despite the odd blast beat from Cruz. This is another song, though, which has a bit of a hardcore feel. Some of Blythe's vocals are shouted and less harsh sounding, which is very hardcore-coded - despite the main chorus feeling like a classic Lamb of God effort. A busy breakdown section later actually channels the metalcore sound of the mid-2000s with a surprisingly Trivium-esque riff - but overall the song is a powerful effort with plenty of energy and attitude. The album comes to a close with Wire, a similar song to the previous one in that it maintains a pretty upbeat feeling - but the hardcore vibes are absent, with the band instead fully channelling their core sound. The album opened sounding like old-school Lamb of God and it closes in a similar manner - which is fitting given the variety that is otherwise found within. More huge riffs and grooves, another pretty strong chorus, and a shredded guitar solo make up this album-closing effort - and it is very much Lamb of God through and through, bringing to an end another strong album from the five-piece. Lamb of God rarely disappoint in my opinion and they have not started doing so on Into Oblivion. The dull new logo aside, the riffing is as good here as ever - and I like that the band have allowed themselves a bit more room for experimentation this time. I liked the last two back-to-basics albums, and they are ones I still return to often, but Lamb of God are often at their best when they try new things alongside the familiar - and Into Oblivion very much allows this to happen.
The album was released on 13th March 2026 via Century Media Records. Below is the band's promotional video for Into Oblivion.
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