ALBUM REVIEW: Lamb Of God - Resolution

From the moment you hear Randy inhale and that fat sound penetrate your eardrums, you know you’re in for something special. I can say that now I’ve listened to the album a few times know what’s coming. To be honest, the first time I heard it this sludgy groovy detuned assault I thought ‘what the fuck is going on, have they gone doomy?’ But I dare not skip to the next track, I wanted to take the journey the way it’s meant to unfold, and I’m glad I did.
You see the opening track is just like the opening credits to a movie, it's there to ease you into what is going to be a hell of a ride.

It segue ways into the track 2, Desolation, and I reckon it takes about a minute for me to come to the conclusion that, if the rest of the album is like this, I’ll be a happy man. It also hits home that this could very well be their best album to date. What’s this, album 7? Their best? Surely not. But as I said to Chris Adler (Lamb Of God drummer) on the phone, there is no mistaking that this is a Lamb Of God Album, but somehow they’ve figured out how to do it better.

Chris Adler: When we went into the process, all of us knew that, being fans of metal, none of us could think of a band, that we all agreed, that their 7^th album was their best, ‘oh I love that bands 2^nd or 3^rd record’ but after that bands get to a point where you at least know what’s going to happen, or they kind of fizzle out, or it gets kinda watered down. So coming in we kinda knew that and we knew that somehow we had to do, what we did, in order to stay relevant and to keep going and get past were we are, we had to out do ourselves. We made the filter so tight on what we were doing on that album that, if it was the same idea, it had to be much improved from the idea that was there before and try to take everything on every level to the next step.

This was genuinely an album which I couldn’t wait to hear what was coming next. I was caught up in each song, but my mind wouldn’t stop thinking ‘what’s next?’ I had to be vigilant and not impatient, I had to let it come to me. Like most people I soon found one that really stood out, it was track 6, aptly titled The Number Six.  Up to that point, this was my favourite, reminding me a bit of Laid to Rest from Ashes of the Wake, the way it was structured, the breakdown in it, but it’s just better. Simple.

Chris Adler: Wow that’s my favourite song on the record right now, lotta people are picking Ghost Walking, Desolation and King Me, but Number six is my favourite.

And the album played through, I didn’t think I’d find anything that could top The Number Six, although when I was presented with track 11: Terminally Unique, I was floored. Chris’ relentless double kick through the middle part of the song is staunchly brilliant, in fact the entire band should be congratulated on their playing, it’s so tight (as it should be by album 7) it demands you sit up and take notice.

Chris Adler: I think we tried to not do the same, even on the record itself, even though we know we’re a metal band and we have certain things that we do very well, we wanted to not duplicate the idea of the song. Meaning like if we wrote kind of a punk rock song then that was it for that. Then if we were going to write a slow sludgy song, then that was it for that, ya know we tried to fill all the little holes and not repeat ourselves. And we put more on this album than we’ve ever put on any other, it’s nearly an hour long, and I think that everyone who’s a fan of the band, or anyone who’s new to the band is gunna be able to find their own little piece that will be unique to them because we really kinda branched out and explored all the different things about the band all over the album.

This is an album that explodes out of your speakers and you will not be able to skip a track. I sat there in awe, listening intently, headphones turned up dangerously loud, soaking it in.  I’m so impressed.

Chris Adler: Thank you we’re impressed too, none of us were sure that we could pull it off, and we’re not getting any younger, it’s tough it gets harder and harder every time, ya know we’re at a very lucky point, we don’t have to make records, but we want to make records, and in that we want to make sure that the records are important, and that they don’t tarnish the legacy of the band.

Don’t think twice when it hits shelves, Lamb Of God – Resolution is one hell of an album.