Lamb of God has finally made it. After years of being touted as the next Great American Metal Band, they have finally achieved their goal. Wrath is one of the most brutal albums of the decade. It’s a relentless attack on the senses. When the album ends, your heart will pound, your ears will ring and your neck might be broken. It’s that good.
Wrath maintains the speed and aggression of Lamb of God’s earlier albums, but there is a complexity that wasn’t there before. The riffs are complicated labyrinths of sludge and distortion. The speed riffing is great, but the beauty is in the break down. When guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler slow the tempo, the savage power of their riffing is revealed. “In Your Words” is especially intense, combining two riffs at once. The first riff is intricate and complex, the second is quick and simple. When the two combine, the effect is devastating.
Drummer Chris Adler is Wrath’s most valuable player. The percussion on this record is some of the best metal drumming ever put to tape. It’s so complicated that it’s hard to believe that he only has two arms. The fills are wild, but never feel sloppy. He stays on the beat with lockstep precision. The best moments on the album are when Adler and the guitars are in sync. They are heavy, but more importantly, they groove. A great example of this is “Set to Fail.” It starts out like a typical thrash tune, but then they slow it down and everything swings. Like Pantera, they understand that it’s not about being the fastest band in the world. It’s about combining elements of speed metal with traditional metal to create the heaviest music possible.
If the album has a weakness, it’s lead singer Randy Blythe. Blythe has an incredible set of pipes. His screams seem to come from the darkest depths of hell. His vocals are the perfect fit for the band’s mechanized tank assault. It’s just a matter of personal taste. I prefer the more melodic, operatic vocals to guttural screams. No other vocalist would fit on this album.
The album’s lyrics are often unintelligible. Most of them deal with pointlessness of war. However, does anyone really listen to Lamb of God for the lyrics? It’s all about the riffing and the aggression. Lyrical content is a moot point when you are being bludgeoned with guitars and drums.
Wrath is the real deal. Lamb of God is not a jock rock band with a heavy metal affectation. This is heavy fucking metal. The best thing about it is that you hear a new layer with every listen. You pick up a bass line or a smaller riff. It’s a very dense, challenging record. As complex as it is, it never loses sight of the mosh pit. It rewards both passive listening and aggressive headbanging. Wrath is one of the best metal records of the decade. No self-respecting headbanger should be without it.
