Lamb of God returns to the top.
After touring extensively to promote their latest album, the band led by Randy Blythe (vocals), Willie Adler (guitar), Mark Morton (guitar), John Campbell (bass), and Arturo “Art” Cruz (drums, ex-Prong, ex-Winds of Plague) will release their tenth album, Into Oblivion, via Century Media in 2026.
We start with the title track, Into Oblivion, which offers Melodic Death Metal influences to begin with, but quickly shifts into groove metal with an incredibly catchy rhythm before Blythe‘s voice makes us want to punch everything in sight. He does seem a little bit in the background in the mix, benefiting from a certain echo, unlike on Parasocial Christ, where he leads the wave that hits us head-on, returning to their most violent and Old School roots, which make them flirt with the violent 2000s’ Thrash. Sepsis follows with a heavier and more martial touch at first, before returning to a kind of steamroller tailored for live performances, just like The Killing Floor, which rushes at us from the very first seconds and hits us at full speed almost constantly. Frenetic headbanging is inevitable, even when the band switches to very jerky influences, then the final scream leads to El vacío, which finally gives us a moment of respite with its clear introduction before suddenly intensifying. Saturation and screams return on the choruses and then finally abandon us to the clutches of St. Catherine’s Wheel, which rolls over us in turn, placing angry riffs at a good pace without neglecting the shrill harmonics as if to torment us. Then, with Blunt Force Blues, the uncompromising groove resurfaces, easily carrying us along in its wake. The mosh pit will undoubtedly be even more brutal on stage, as will the arrival of Bully, which will slap us in the face before offering several waves of violence with an interesting rhythm, followed by A Thousand Years, which takes the same path and assaults us at its own pace, while allowing the vocalist to explore his abilities. There are noticeable Southern/Stoner influences, and then with Devise / Destroy, the album offers us one last touch of sweetness, just before striking one last time with well-placed riffs, sometimes even on a catchy mid-tempo.
A Lamb of God album is always eagerly awaited and well received, and even if Into Oblivion is sometimes a little experimental, it will undoubtedly meet with the same success as its predecessors. Some tracks clearly deserve to be added to the band’s setlists!
85/100