Review: Lamb of God “Ashes of the Wake” CD

Having followed this band for many, many, many years since the Burn the Priest days, I was blown away when they ended up on a major label, but I never faulted them for it once, because I knew they had worked their assess off and I was hoping it would yield strong results. It definitely has. If nothing else, the recording on this disc is of course their best yet. The drums finally sound crisp enough to let the performance shine while still possessing a really dense, controlled punch; the bass is there thickening things up without really playing a dominant role; and the guitar tones are much more rounded out than they were on the last record... still keeping a slightly dry texture to the distortion that lets the bass have more space and keeps the clarity in check, but definitely getting a bit chunkier than before. I might like to hear the vocals mixed a little lower in against the instruments, but that's not a real issue here at all. And anyone who foolishly thought the band's songwriting might take a hit due to the major label presence should be schooled pretty heartily upon checking this out, because this is basically a modern thrash record. The rhythmic nature of the band's material is still in place with plenty of quick stops and staccato picking patterns, but they haven't placed any more emphasis on that element than they have in the past, nor would I call this more melodic (though there are certainly melodic elements present). And in fact, there are plenty of runs herein that are straight out of the late-80's thrash handbook. It's definitely a bit more technical than their past efforts, but subtly so. The time signatures aren't really too unusual, and the end result is very tangible in the writing department, but when you listen to the layering and the way the riffs are structured to play out, there's very much a strong sense of musicianship involved. "Laid to Rest" and "Hourglass" start things off right away with a good blend of tempos and note-based riffs against thick chords and a dash of melody, "The Faded Line" has some killer alternate picked riffing that really picks up the energy level significantly against some slower start/stop chord progressions, "Blood of the Scribe" continues that thread in a slightly more contemporary manner that leans towards a Scandinavian edge (very tactfully, mind you, throwing in some beautiful dissonance), the aptly titled "Break You" kicks off right away with a more aggressive rhythmic attack, while closer "Remorse is for the Dead" opens with a beautiful clean passage to really darken the mood before rolling into a set of churning rhythms that are among the heavier moments herein. The title track is actually a nearly six-minute thrash instrumental (with some politically charged samples) that features guest guitar solos from virtuosos extraordinaire Alex Skolnick (formerly of Testament) and Chris Poland (formerly of Megadeth and Damn the Machine) - an unexpected twist indeed. Admittedly layout isn't doing much for me per se, at least not compared to their last two records. It still looks good, and the metallic gold printing is a nice touch, but the color scheme is sort of uninteresting and it's mostly crammed with rather small text, so there's not all that much to really look at. The lyrics are excellent though, far better than you'll see from most any metal band, covering a range of topics that definitely have a lot to say in light of today's climate of current events: "The eyes of the patriot fixed through the scope, the unknowing tyrant walks the rope. It's when murder is justice that martyrs are made, A one-gun salute for the new independence day. They'll hallow your name, they'll hallow your name for your sacrifice. The sins of deliverance..." As a whole this is another great record from these guys. In my opinion it's not their finest hour, the songwriting doesn't consistently floor me or anything (I find "What I've Become", for example, to be a pretty weak track until the last minute or so), and I certainly find myself wishing I could work some sort of absurd magic by applying this production to all of Lamb of God's past recordings, but in reality this is still very much a promising moment on several levels. There's absolutely no question that Lamb of God is the only 100% undeniably metal band that's on a major label right now, and if you ask me, it's been a long, long time since a real metal band was this poised to make a mark in the realm of music as a whole. So... I'm damn happy with this record and I certainly expect the band to continue to grow from here. I'm looking forward to it.