After their first significant lineup change in more than two decades, Lamb Of God have good reason to hit ‘Reset’ for their eighth full-length record.
Knowingly self-titled, Lamb Of God provides a dazzling showcase for new drummer Art Cruz, who has slipped into the role with seamless ease, and you can feel the renewed energy coursing through the entire band during the bug-eyed New Colossal Hate, recent single Checkmate and the hook-powered thunder-crunch of Poison Dream (featuring Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta).
There are subtle evolutionary tricks being pulled here too. Randy Blythe’s sparing but effective use of clean vocals drags hulking opener Memento Mori in and out of woozy, gothic metal territory, while Routes (featuring Testament’s Chuck Billy) is all mutant metal-punk tempo shifts, Blythe in full-bore psycho mode.
Delivering the goods with considerably more venom than you might expect at this stage in the game, Lamb Of God remain hard to b(l)eat
