Lamb of God
New American Gospel

THE REVIEW

Bad. That's what I thought right after the first track of New American Gospel (N.A.G) ended. And afterwards, it got even worse. The "funny" thing is that I already considered the last album, that "Ashes Of The Wake", fierce enough, which I still don't tire of listening to even a year after its release. Yet... yet here the rage is more direct, more twisted, made of incredible outbursts, in my opinion penalized by not exceptional recording quality (the sound of the drums seems a bit flat...) and by singing that is at times still inexperienced, but with potential that will be effectively highlighted in subsequent works.

There aren't too many technical passages, which we got used to from the second studio album onwards (just listen to "Ruin", the first Slayer-like salvo they'll fire in "As The Palaces Burn" to realize), even though the drummer certainly doesn't mess around. In fact, the drums are put at the forefront, strong with technical and original passages ("Confessional" starts with an intriguing rhythm to which the bass soon joins, and finally the guitars).
One thing I have always appreciated about Lamb of God and which I can now see was a characteristic of theirs from the very beginning is the continuous rhythmic and "melodic" change within a single track, sometimes unexpectedly: this "trademark" is present, more or less, in all the tracks of N.A.G, particularly in "In The Absence Of The Sacred", "Terror And Hubris In The House Of Frank Pollard, "Pariah", and "O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E." (fancy titles, huh?!).

In trying to find an influence for this group's sound, one inevitably ends up pointing to the Masters of Aggression (did someone say Slayer?) but it would be unjust, and damn it if it isn't, to reduce them to clones or bland imitators of Tom Araya and his crew. Maybe in this first album the differences aren't so pronounced (except for the fact that here there are no screeching screams, but only raspy growls) so the only advice I can give you is to listen to the subsequent works to acknowledge the notable stylistic evolution of a band (unfortunately not well-known in Italy) that is young and has nothing less than other groups, perhaps more prestigious but which have lost their way (Metallica, Slipknot, etc.)