Lamb of God is already back.
Since 1999 (or 1994 under the name Burn the Priest) in the United States, the band has dominated the Groove Metal/Metalcore scene. After eight albums, the band composed of Randy Blythe (vocals), Willie Adler (guitar), Mark Morton (guitar), John Campbell (bass) and Arturo « Art » Cruz (drums, ex-Prong, ex-Winds of Plague) announces the release of Omens in 2022 through Nuclear Blast and Epic Records.
The album starts with Nevermore, a track with effective and catchy riffs to serve as an energetic basis for the vocalist’s screams, which reinforce its aggressive atmosphere. A few piercing leads slip into this groovy wave, and then Vanishing follows with a jerky and raw rhythmic, letting the catchy patterns rage while the vocalist delivers a very raw performance. The final break will for sure make your nod, just like To The Grave which reminds me of the band’s early releases. These raw and stirring Old School influences take advantage of the more lively accelerations which punctuate the track before Ditch comes to crush us with a massive and unstoppable sound. The uncontrollable energy the band deploys also picks up some Thrash elements to create an extremely efficient rhythmic, while Omens, the eponymous track, reveals some slowness with thick and sometimes haunting Southern Metal accents. The track keeps its energetic and saturated touches, as well as Gomorrah which leaves us a moment of respite with its disturbing introduction. The jerky rhythm will soon resurface along with the screaming vocal parts, but the track will regularly slow down before speeding up again, making it perfect to wreak havoc live, just like Ill Designs which will probably be the root of wall of death and other impressive moshes. The song also knows how to calm down at times to revive raw rage and jerky riffs, but also a sharp solo before Grayscale comes to let dissonance express itself in this massive and catchy groove. The band gives free reins to fury with efficient jerky riffs punctuated by some lively leads with heavy influences, then Denial Mechanism offers some Punk-oriented patterns to accompany the screams of rage. The pure energy which escapes from this short track is quite communicative, and it will give way to September Song, a more worrying and dark composition which slowly develops a soaring sound before letting the heavier elements come, accompanied by keyboards. The song’s original contrast allows the band to play with darkness while remaining aggressive, making this track a rather different ending.
Lamb of God has always been able to create effective riffs, and Omens proves it once again. But we also notice some Thrash influences, some Heavy hints, and this last very dark track, which contrasts with the songs’ raw strength.
85/100
