Epic Records
Out Now
Words by Jimmy Glinster
Lamb of God have been on top of their game for some time now. Even back in the day when I had no idea who the fuck they were but ended up backstage at the Arena Brisbane chatting with a bunch of cool as fucks blokes from Virginia. Anyway, as it turns out they busted into a tune called Now You’ve Got Something To Die For which had the whole crowd screaming that very line and won the band another fan.
Many years, 8 albums and a short Czech prison stint later, Randy and the crew have delivered their latest offering Omens. Now, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve already blasted this one in the car and I can tell you it’s full of all the heavy riffs and commanding screams that you’d expect from the band.
Let’s pretend I haven’t listened though, and I’ll give you all my standard blow by blow …
And there it is straight up, that classic Lamb of God riffing. It’s broken up by some slowed down tom fill sections with some slower, dark lyrics, but it quickly stops fucking around and gets straight back to the riff. You even hear Randy sing, a little bit, which is something that has poked its head out here and there over the years. When they stop fucking around, though, the song rocks. And that was Nevermore!
Vanishing very quickly gets it shit together and riffs hard from the get-go. It’s exactly what you’d expect from this monster of a band and as the chorus hits with the single word Vanishing, you know the band is not here to fuck around! Riff after riff keep the song trashing relentlessly, except for that little classical interlude which takes no time in vanishing.
Woah, To The Grave certainly doesn’t fuck around. It’s heavy, and it grooves, it grooves hard. This one definitely sits more to the Groove Metal side of the band than it does the Metalcore side that they get slotted into. And the bass line that pokes its head out here and there may even be slotted into another despised metal genre.
On that note, Ditch is pretty goddam metalcore. It’s fucking heavy and thrashing, probably the heaviest track so far, but the chorus does pull back to another solid groove. It’s a fucking banger of a chorus to be honest and once I learn the words, I dare say I’ll be screaming the shit out of it. Apologies, I got a bit lost in the moment there until some heavy as fuck guitar chugs and ripping double kicks snapped me out of it. Banger of a track.
Here we go, the title track, Omens. It’s a fucking groover, with some subtle southern tones throughout. And again, when the chorus hits and Randy screams Omens, you’ll soon fucking pay attention. I’ve probably said this once or twice before, and will say it once or twice again, but this is classic Lamb of God riffing, at its best. Gang vocals though? Woah!
Gomorrah takes a different approach by opening with some slower, less distorted guitars. That doesn’t last long though as the kicks and guitars stab away in perfect harmony. It’s a slower song, but is still very much a heavy track. Once the first chorus hits, it picks the pace back up and the song continues to develop from there on as the riffs get a little more exciting and the song develops into its own kind of monster.
Ill Design is far from ill by design, but it is pretty ill. By ill, I of course mean sick, and by sick I of course mean good, fucking good, pretty fucking good, actually. Anyway, that was me just wasting some words while I listen to this track. This is very much the version of this band that I like with its heavy bouncing groove. What can I say, it’s classic Lamb of God.
It’s not that I wasn’t listening already, but the intro to Grayscale sure pricked my ears up and made me pay attention … again. Can I say classic Lamb of God riffing again? Well, fuck it if I can’t because I just did. In my opinion, this band really hits its peak when they pull back the pace a little and the heaviness gets a little bit of room to breathe. And that’s exactly what the choruses in this track do so brilliantly.
Oh, what do we have here, a thrash track? Yeah, we do, even when it pulls back a little for what may be the song’s choruses. There’s no denial here, Denial Mechanism thrashes hard. For a minute there I thought September Song was about to be the classic end of album ballad, and it was, until it wasn’t. Anyway, I’m just gonna let you all discover this one for yourself.
Well, there have been some fucking great metal releases this year, and this one is right up there as one of the best so far. Fucking brilliant!
