VII:Sturm Und Drang

Well, this is problematic. Sturm Und Drang is such a good album that it burns brightly in the Lamb of God catalogue - brightly enough to shine some pretty harsh light on their previous work. Albums of theirs that I thought were pretty good will now be labelled with the unfortunate caveat of "but not as good as Sturm Und Drang." Resolution and Sacrament probably suffer the worst in this respect, the former sounding like it wants to be everything that Sturm Und Drang is and the latter coming across as slightly stale and stagnant. This isn't to take away anything from those albums, they're still great. Just... not as good as Sturm Und Drang. Of course, the question everyone always has to ask when a new Lamb of God album comes out is whether it's as good as Ashes Of The Wake (not, as some critics seem to think, Wrath - the hype machine really trundled for that one). To say that an album is better than Ashes would mean that it's the best album LOG have ever made, which would be a bold claim indeed. Can we make that claim about Sturm Und Drang? Let's try it out and see how it sounds.Sturm Und Drang is the best album Lamb Of God have ever made.Phew, had to get that out the way early! Of course, the thing about wild claims is that people expect you to justify them, so I suppose I have to. Sturm Und Drang opens with lead single Still Echoes - no long intro, no messing about, just straight into the riffs and a big old angry scream with all the confidence you'd expect from LOG. It's a fine song and a decent enough opener, but it's on Erase This that the band really find their groove, both figuratively and literally. This is followed by 512, the second single from the album. Named for the cell Blythe spent his time in whilst held on a manslaughter charge, it's clearly a deeply personal and therapeutic piece of work for the vocalist. Building masterfully to an anthemic chorus, this is a chugging number with some fantastic drumming from Adler, who is really on top form throughout the album.Next up it's the slightly more divisive Embers, featuring guest vocals from Chino Moreno. Now, when I first heard Chino was going to feature on the album, I thought "Great, I'll hate that one then." I have never been a fan of Deftones, and whenever I've seen them it's been whilst waiting for someone else and has felt like an exercise in endurance. Every song seems to finish with him just shrieking incomprehensibly into the microphone, and it's very dull to listen to. When listening to this song for the first time, with it's understated riff leading into absolutely pummeling drums, I thought it was such a shame that it was no doubt going to be ruined before too long when Chino Moreno showed up. But actually, he only pops up towards the end, and sings cleanly. Ok, his singing isn't particularly powerful, but it acts like a salve to Blythe's guttural snarls, which, whilst not really needed, adds an interesting dimension to the sound. Footprints is the next track and is classic Lamb Of God, each verse shifting into a galloping pre-chorus that charges headlong into the chorus itself. It's got groove, it's got an anthemic chorus, it's everything you could want. It's well placed where it is too, coming between the potentially controversial Embers and the definitely controversial Overlord...When Overlord came out, I think the comments were about a 70/30 split between people who didn't like the vocals and those who did. Clean singing for this long isn't something Randy has really done before, so it's bound to be a shock. I (in case you hadn't guessed) was part of the thirty percent. I think the clean singing is a nice touch, and as the second half of the song proves (and indeed the rest of the album), it's not like Lamb Of God have "mellowed" like some people were worried about. Anthropoid, the next song bursts into life after Overlord comes to its melodic close, reassuring those same worriers that this is a band who can be melodic and reflective, getting your head nodding and your brain working, then in the next moment hitting you so hard that your head twists right off your neck. Anthropoid bursts from the gate, Randy sounding positively demonic, even getting his shriek on before a fist pumping chorus comes in.For me, the next song is the highlight of the album, and takes it from being a great album to being an excellent one. Engage The Fear Machine takes the accolade of being quite possibly the most well crafted song Lamb of God have ever recorded, every section of it carefully considered and executed perfectly. Another well layered intro leads into one of the most memorable riffs on the album, multiple vocal effects and fantastically considered use of dynamics working together to create something truly special. Written as a meditation on the media manipulating the masses through scaremongering, the lyrical prowess of Blythe is really evident here, as he rages with lines like "That's it you filthy monkeys, keep your eyes on the bright and shiny" (probably my favourite line from them, ever) and reaches almost Palahniuk levels of dark social commentary. Delusion Pandemic has the unenviable task of following this masterpiece, and whilst it might not be quite as groundbreaking an offering it's more than up to the task. It's another anthemic chorus, which is no bad thing, and the curveball here is the spoken word bridge that leads into a crushingly heavy final section. Still top drawer stuff. After that it's up to Torches to close out the standard edition of the album, a gloriously chugging headbanger with more fantastic drumming and a nice solo. More guest vocals here, this time courtesy of Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan. Personally, I can take or leave his vocals - they're fine, but don't seem quite as unique as Moreno's or Blythe's.If you get the special edition like I did, you have two bonus tracks for your listening pleasure, in the form of Wine & P!ss and Nightmare Seeker (The Little Red House). The former is pretty good, though maybe is the more out of place feeling one of the two. It's a good song, make no mistake, but it seemed to me like it would sit more happily on one of their older albums, perhaps Sacrament. Nightmare Seeker just has that little bit more going on, a little more variation and melody, not to mention a ridiculously catchy chorus riff. What's more, it still feels like a good album closer, even though it's a bonus track. In fact, special mention should be made with regard to how the album fits together as a whole. Too many bands just write a load of songs and stick them on a disc, but the ordering of the songs has clearly been meticulously worked out to balance the album overall between loud moments and quieter ones, between clean and harsh vocals, between fast and slow songs, everything. As well as this, the cohesion overall, both thematically and stylistically, is incredibly strong. The whole album could be played from start to finish live, and it would just... work. There's not a bad song on here. Sturm Und Drang is a high watermark for the frontrunners of the NWOAHM, and a strong contender for metal album of the year. An essential purchase.

Lamb Of God were in an interesting and dark place prior to making 2015’s VII: Sturm & Drang album; there’s been a book and a documentary released about the time and countless better writers than the likes of me have summarized it online. It permeates the album quite a lot, the atmosphere, the title, and even some of the lyrics (‘512’ and ‘Still Echoes’ for example). Its not so much a concept album about what happened to Randy or anything as formal as that, but that era certainly cast a noticeable shadow over this, their seventh full-length record as Lamb Of God.Musically, the album takes a split approach between covering new ground and keeping it familiar. It isn’t different enough for example from their previous two albums that you could say it’s a break from the norm, but there are certainly moments on it you haven’t heard before. The band are no strangers to slow thoughtful intros or bigger scale album closers, but even at that this album contains more melody, slow parts and subtlety than some of their previous work. It also isn’t the first time they’ve had guest stars, (just ask Chris Poland, Steve Austin and Devin Townsend), but Deftones’ Chino Morino and Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato both appear on this record and deliver nifty performances than breath fresh new life into proceedings (and luckily on two of the already best tracks of the record). As you can see, its new ground but simultaneously very familiar.‘Overlord’ is an interesting one, because it isn’t the kind of final epic closer like ‘King Me’ or ‘Reclamation’ from previous records where you’d expect more pronounced dynamics and a few less-heavy vocals. It’s a mid-album track with a lot of melody from Blythe and no orchestration or drama to justify it to the die-hard “I Only Like Brutal Music” section of the crowd. I could see a portion of the fanbase call it a bit of a sell-out… well, apart from the thrashy fast paced end of the song that is just about the best part of the whole record that is.The bulk of the album, the ‘normal’ Lamb Of God songs, are all exactly what you want from the band. You get aggressive, angry 3-4 minute songs with Thrash and Groove roots, modern sensibilities, and a technical but not showy approach, all topped off with furious barking. Its good. It Lamb Of God doing what they do. If you want more of that, get this album, don’t worry that its turned into something you don’t want, or that its become a cheesy guest-spot fest with every man and his dog clogging up the runtime making it feel disjointed or not like a proper album.The interesting backstory, the excellent guest-spots and the few innovations do make this an album that you can tell future fans to check out when they get into the band and wonder what to look at first, and the album is a good album in and of itself… but one thing I would say is that just purely in terms of songwriting, there was nothing that jumped out at me on first listen and made me feel “well that’s going straight into a greatest hits playlist right now,” nor anything that made me say “I can’t wait to see them play THAT ONE live” and nothing that made me want to listen to it six times in a row. There was no super special song like the first time I heard ‘Contractor’ or ‘To The End’ or ‘Ruin’ where I just got blown away. Its all very good, don’t get me wrong, but even after a long while of getting into the album and letting it sit with me, I haven’t got a new favourite Lamb Of God song contender. The band are maintaining their high standard, but they aren’t necessarily improving or blowing minds this time (and to be fair it is an impossible task for a band who’ve did it so many times already).In summary; this is a good Lamb Of God album, arguably not their very best ever, but rock solid and certainly a worthy addition to your collection that gives you what you want stylistically but with enough unique selling points to not make you feel like you’ve heard it all before.

This is a brilliant album by Lamb of God. The band and their music keeps maturing and evolving while staying true to their roots and to their sound. Their evolution brings musical elements which might remind you of Alice in Chains, Testament and Megadeth while maintaining the level of aggression and power known from Slayer. Yet Lamb of God is not trying to be someone else, their music is instantly recognisable.Being Czech, I read a good bit about Randy's case, both in American interviews as well as in Czech papers, and I was wondering what impact that experience will have going forward. From the opening track on this album, you get the heavy punch of aggression and speed, there is lot of darkness in the music, yet quite a lot of lighter, more melodic and even uplifting parts as well.Is VII: Sturm Und Drang better than Sacrament, Wrath or Resolution? Well, for me the three previous albums were brilliant and so is this one. This is one of the albums, where time becomes truly relative - you almost feel you are in a haze, in a dream and when the music finishes at last, you open your eyes, have to look around to see where you are and what you were doing. It won't let you just half-listen, it will demand all your attention, and it's so good you will want to stop doing anything else and just be there with the music.