Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn
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Artist: Lamb of GodEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-05-06
Music Label: Razor & Tie
Soundtracks:
- Ruin
- As The Palaces Burn
- Purified
- 11th Hour
- For Your Malice
- Boot Scraper
- A Devil In God's Country
- In Defense Of Your Good Name
- Blood Junkie
- Vigil
Music reviews of As the Palaces Burn
Music Review: The New Pantera?
Rating: 3 Stars
NOTE: The Reviewer doesn't believe in rating items on a numerical scale. Works such as these cannot be quantified by numbers. All reviews by the reviewers would be rated as 3 since that is the closest median between 1 and 5.
Virginia's Lamb of God exploded into the scene with the release of New American Gospel. Critics and underground thespians have dubbed the band `The new Pantera' with its punishing guitar riffs that blended hardcore, thrash metal and Swedish metal along with a vocal delivery that's reminiscent of Phil Anselmo - only grittier in its execution.
While their rise seems meteoric in nature, the band took a couple of years to hit on all cylinders; their early incarnation as Burn the Priest laid the groundwork for what was to be Lamb of God. New American Gospel's savage production, excellent songwriting, and intense performance catapulted them into the same category alongside Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, God Forbid and Unearth as the early forerunners in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement which is also known as Metalcore by some people nowadays.
The band then set out along with wunderkind Devin Townsend to make a follow up that might catapult them more into the American mainstream masses and by the looks of it as early as late last year, they have done so with this release as it got them signed to Sony records and a stint at this years Ozzfest.
So why is this album successful with both the listeners and critics? For one, it does not try to replicate NAG but tries to get the parts that worked for that album and mix it with a more accessible approach by incorporating hooks instead of just a big slab of jackhammer trying to get inside your eardrums. Second, the vocals which for some people said got watered down had actually made this album more effective. Randy Blythe might have given the vocal performance of his career with this one, his shrieks and growls along with a clear sense of enunciation gave the band's socio-political lyrics teeth that can cut thru iron walls. Lastly, it showed musical growth in a way that certain bands would not achieve for at least 4 albums down the road.
The album opens with the intricate "Ruin" which might remind you of Testament in most parts up until that neck snapping breakdown after the solo that might make Pantera at their peak smirk. It shows though one of the main gripes I have with this album, Devin made the production clean but way thin. Unlike in NAG, the drums were mixed low while the guitars were mixed high. It would have been great if the guitars had meat but the way it sounds, it was like the axe was plug in a Pignose amp. Aside from the guitars being unevenly thin, the bass drum didn't have a rich vibrancy to the mix - you can hear the barrage of notes being played, but it doesn't have the punch that makes your ears or heart thump. The weak production really shows its flaws with the second track which was the weakest song in the album. The album begins its fabulous run with the highlight of the album, "Purify". The riffs are simplistic, yet the way it was executed was addictive and yet poignant. The vocals and drums were simply in another level on by itself as it gives the song that guttural energy that culminates into a guest guitar solo by Ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland which just added lunacy with its spacy line layered into that chaotic machine. And when you thought that the end is near, the band kicks into another gear with one of the best closing riffs a mainstream American metal band has done in years. The band's first single then creeps into the spotlight, "11th hour" which shows the groups influences inside their sleeve. Traces of Slayer and Megadeth can be heard all over the track while the lyrics fit perfectly with the way Blythe delivers the words.
The album then hits some sort of a minor wall after the groove infested track "For your Malice" ends, "Boot Scraper" incorporates some stop start math riffs that's made popular by Meshuggah. It sort of also shows that the album is sort of monotonous with the way the tempo is constant. The 7th track, "Devil in God's Country" then tries to stop the doldrums with its energetic opening that's highlighted by the drums tasteful use of the double bass. While very energetic, the band could have benefited more by adding more dynamics with this song as it loses steam in the end. The sad thing also about this track is that it says that Devin appears in this song, yet you cannot hear him. "In Defense of Our Good Name" and "Blood Junkie" uses tempo changes this side of Meshuggah/Dillinger Escape Plan minus the unpredictability which was not bad, but not stellar also since Polyrhythm is all about unpredictability. The album ends though with a very stellar track that actually matches "Ruin" in a stellar show of musical development, not the way it punishes you - the lyrics message and the mellow passages adds power to another stellar breakdown near the end.
Aside from some of the issues that I've mentioned, this album truly deserves its spurs and hype as one of the best albums of this new metal movement. They managed to follow up a great album like NAG while still a new element to their sound - albeit it's a retro one - it still adds a great layer into their sound that gives new hope to this recent metal resurgence. Sky is the limit in regards to this band's potential.
Description of As the Palaces Burn
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