It would have been predictable and easy for Lamb Of God to create an overly self-indulgent album reflecting on Randy Blythe’s incarceration for manslaughter in the Czech Republic. Many bands would have done just so and probably have been celebrated for doing it. The reason that Lamb Of God are so incredible is that status quo is not their game, and this new release shows the world that they really are one of metal’s present day Gods.
Translated from German ‘Sturm Und Drang’ or ‘storm and stress’ would seem a fitting description of the past 18 months for LOG, an intense period of grim mental duress for Randy with the album’s thematic approach being centred around the way that people deal with extreme situations.
Only two of the songs deal with Randy’s prison time. Opener ‘Still Echoes’ and ‘512’ named after his cell number. The latter mentioned begins with some uneasy guitar which inspires a bleach like itch, the spoken vocals, Patton-style, give a hellish picture of what facing a manslaughter charge in a foreign country could well be like. The music takes you right there to his cell and for sure recording this song must have been incredibly cathartic for Blythe with him spitting ‘I can’t recognise myself…your time is slipping by’, the guitar solo enhancing the multifaceted abilities of this incredible band.
The album is blessed with two immense cameos, Chino Moreno from Deftones and Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan. ‘Embers’ featuring Moreno is simply jaw dropping, the song initially spiralling in with the demonic panache of Randy, and the unrelenting unease of the guitar parts, Randy sounding reinvigorated and more focused than ever before. It is also the first time Randy ‘sings’, and indeed compliments the heavy parts beautifully. There is a short interlude, before the recognisable and haunting vocals of Chino soar in like the sun creeping over an early morning woodland. It is truly unique and this song lays down the gauntlet, Lamb Of God are awesome, pay homage immediately.
‘Anthropoid’ is an ode to British forces who assassinated Heydrich in Nazi Germany, seven of them holding off 800 Nazi stormtroopers for several hours before killing themselves, surely a feat of undeniable strength in the face of such evil. Randy’s vocal parts are brutal and the multi-section scream-alongs are metaphorically reminiscent of a marching hoard of Nazis. The beat unsettling and hellish, before the blood boiling double bass drums see out the song, whiplash most definitely the main outcome of this release.
Final track ‘Torches’ features the delicious nails on a chalk board vocals of Greg Puciato, the brutality and energy wonderfully offset by the moments of harmony. This coupled with Randy’s huge vocal parts gives this song a ridiculously large sound, the guitar and drums destroying all before it.
‘It’s only what you do in this instant that matters’ shouts Randy in ‘Delusion Pandemic’ who must now have a knowledgable amount of perspective on such things, and indeed the only thing to do now is to listen to ‘VII Sturm Und Drang’ and appreciate the eloquence, the elegance, the brutality and the beauty of what can only be described as a tour-de-force for the metal scene.
DAVE BULL