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Rating: Sixth album in nine years for Lamb Of God, who, after delivering a masterpiece like "Ashes Of The Wake", seemed to have lost sight of the path that led them to success through a sound evolution that was never radical but always noticeable.
With "Sacrament," the Richmond five appeared slightly in decline, almost as if they had toyed with the idea of resting on their laurels; the album maintained the usual groove energy, but a fundamental stagnation in terms of structures and the excessive cleanliness of the album's sound disappointed many fans (including myself), who expected a fresh violence in sound but unchanged impact. "Sacrament" had the opposite effect, so much so that people began to think that LOG had already embarked on the road to sunset.
Nothing could be further from the truth. While signing with a major label finally gave them the proper compensation for their efforts, it also added further fuel to the doubts of many fans, resigned to a formula favoring commerciality at the expense of their verve.
Fortunately, "Wrath" dispels practically all these doubts; the album is, as usual, incredibly powerful. The sonic backdrop laid by Chris Adler's drums is increasingly perfect and technical, without ever falling into self-celebration. The guitars sound slightly higher in tone, offering greater clarity both to the granite riffs and the cross solos of the two madmen at the axes (Willy Adler & Mark Morton). The sound has returned to that raw quality that avoids highlighting one instrument over another. Randy Blythe maintains his usual rock-solid growl and this time doesn't hesitate to engage in always extreme but more varied vocalizations, ranging from an almost death growl to an evocative and technically impeccable metalcore scream, without forgetting acoustic inserts that fit perfectly before the inevitable outbursts.
This album seems to have only strengths compared to the previous ones; however, some slight flaws, some of which are debatable, preclude it from being defined as a masterpiece: the return to raw production has penalized the quality of some sounds, especially the snare drum; the guitars, despite the greater comprehensibility achieved with the raised tone, perhaps stand out a bit too much, revealing cracks in that sound wall which, in previous editions, was indestructible; moreover, apart from a few tracks in classic LOG style, the greater sophistication in the compositions makes it lose that immediacy that, despite the great ideas always recorded by the Richmond quintet, had always been in the first place.
The album has within it several identities, among which stands out the "Pantera-like" of "Set To Fail", the violent nature in "Contractor", among the most direct ever, the complex soul with an attached memorable chorus in "Fake Messiah" and the more thrashy nature in "Everything To Nothing". A well-deserved mention for the two guitars in "Grace".
Essentially, a great album, a must for LOG fans, who will be utterly fascinated by it, but the feeling that the further evolution started with "Sacrament" is not yet over persists.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Contractor (03:22)
Chopping lines in international sand,
Feeding blood junkie habits of the elephant man
Quench his thirst with black water rising,
Executive outcomes on a burning horizon
Yeah motherfucker, let's take a ride
We're rolling Route Irish, someone has got to die
Trick or treat, it's IEDs,
So roll the dice as we leave,
Cuz it's eight miles of pure luck
With more bang for Sam's buck
Guaran-fucking-teed, someone will bleed
Privatize to conceal all the lies,
Big business is booming like it's the Fourth of July
No need for all the formalities,
Jump the kangaroo courts
And plant the lynching trees
Yeah motherfucker, let's take a ride
Running red lights in a green zone,
someone has got to die
Hidden aegis, nothing here to see,
So load the dice for me please
and let's snort the bottom line
crude cashed into refined
Guaran-fucking-teed, just sign the deed
Guaran-fucking-teed, Someone will bleed
Someone has got to die
Ours is not to reason why,
Ours is but to do if the pay rate's right
Black liquid assets, fuck the mujahideen
Paint their picket fences red with the American dream
Lay the hammer hammer down, get the job done right
Jacked up and clocked in into a fire fight
Covert reactions and you never saw me
A glass parking lot in the American dream,
They all die.
Fucking Murder.
05 Fake Messiah (04:33)
Everything you've ever begged me to be
Could never have meant any less to me
Everything you've ever asked me to say
It's so far away from the truth
So far away from the truth... (So far away)
Fake messiah
Stitches sewn in your eyes
Fake messiah
Prophecy now denied
Over and over and never again
Defending your insignificance
Useless intent hidden behind your mask
A cowards voice... Anonymous
So far away from the truth
Fake messiah
Stitches sewn in your eyes
Fake messiah
Prophecy now denied
Fake messiah
Open mouth, drawing flies
Fake messiah
Prophecy now denied
Generation failure.
Suspended in irrelevance.
Slit you wide open
Just to see what you're made of
So far away from the truth...
Fake messiah
Stitches sewn in your eyes
Fake messiah
Prophecy now denied
Fake messiah
Open mouth, drawing flies
Fake messiah
Prophecy now denied
08 Dead Seeds (03:40)
And you may tremble before Hell's gates
You may watch as the heavens fall
And you may slight the hands of fate
You may heed the siren's call
And you may reach every golden shore
Witness repent in the heathen
And you may dance in the sands of the war
You may sleep in the cradle of Eden
Betrayed your prophets
Dead seeds buried deep
An army of none
We'll prey on the weak
And you may walk through the river run dry
You may strike down the giant with stone
And you may never again speak a lie
Confess every sin and atone
And you may drink from the infidel's blood
As their civilization collapses
You may rejoice in the cleanse of the flood
And stare into the face of apocalypse
Betrayed your prophets
Dead seeds buried deep
An army of none
We'll prey on the weak
You will not comprehend
Or find words that will describe
The will of God and man
Until you watch someone die
Betrayed your prophets
Dead seeds buried deep
An army of none
We'll prey on the weak
09 Everything to Nothing (03:50)
Then you wake
Another body bag, pathetic,
Picture frame obituary faded in the attic
A shadow of someone you used to be
You've seen so many in these flames
And swore that you'd never become the cliche
A long forgotten memory
And when you wake
Everything you ever wanted
Everything you never had
Everything learned forgotten and dead
Everything turns to nothing
Another day, a little dirt for the grave
Is it worth everything that you gave
What a beautiful way to waste away
Consumed by dependency
A lesson in despondency
A long forgotten memory
And when you wake
Everything you ever wanted
Everything you never had
Everything learned, forgotten and dead
Everything turns to nothing
And then you wake
How quickly the master
Turns into the slave
Slowly succumbing more
Every dying day
Everything you ever wanted
Everything you never had
Everything learned forgotten and dead
Everything turns to nothing
10 Choke Sermon (03:20)
Sermon sung me slow to sleep
Faster if I had a choice
With every breath another death
Still so in love with your own voice
Idle threats to hide regrets
Excuses serve to bide the time
Cover tracks, double back
We summon silence so divine
Greeted with a thundering absence of applause.
Choke on your own words
Lies are venom in your veins
Burn from the inside
And never speak my name
Jesus complex, gag reflex
Trigger happy redundancy
No thrill, no chase, no saving grace
Hypnotic in monotony
Loaded with a salt rock shot
You say you're everything you're not
What might have been is all you've got
From here and now you're dead to me
Greeted with a thunderous absence of applause
Choke on your own words
Lies are venom in your veins
Burn from the inside
And never speak my name
Nothing will ever erase
Or undo your disgrace
A lonely self-embrace
They've long forgotten you
Still cling to what it was
A lost and hopeless cause
Forever mourning your loss
They've long forgotten you
Murdered slowly in minute increments of time
Pissing up a rope
Another moment passes by
Choke on your own words
Lies are venom in your veins
Burn from the inside
And never speak my name
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