Review Summary: America’s new wave of heavy metal still exists.
Apparently.
From the bands of
that mainstream, festival headlining era, Lamb of God are the lucky ones I guess. The likes of DevilDriver, Machine Head and Chimaira (just to touch on a few) have either gone through abrupt line-up changes (save for those nostalgia-tugging, disproportionate expectation meeting release), hiatus statuses or become completely absent in the eyes and ears of the public. Yet, these are the bands that would eventually shape the music I would listen to later in life. With that nostalgia in mind I should be personally thankful that their roster has only suffered a change of drummers, all the while keeping their touring and release schedules (mostly) intact. Despite this, long-time fans will always directly compare a Lamb of God that features Chris Adler (now ex-drummer) with the very current Art Cruz. The self-titled album (the first that would feature the band’s new percussive force) became the group’s new ground zero, a low point to which all comparisons before and now would be made. Rightly so.
Lamb of God lacked…basically within every component but suffered only to be offensively inoffensive. Lamb of God still sounded a lot like themselves, but their dialled back soundscapes became the definition of run of the mill, living too close to an autopilot aesthetic. Mediocrity became clear; coincidentally tying in with new drummer Art Cruz’s musical contributions (or lack thereof). Unfairly, it was where the blame landed.
Omens however picks up on the standard. Naysayers will have a hard time lumping the likes of Lamb of God’s newest in the same profane locales as the self-titled and yet,
Omens does not come close to achieving the same quality on show when there was
two Adlers in the line-up. That’s not boomer talk.
Omens shows some return to form, but couldn’t hold a stiff one against the likes of
Ashes Of The Wake,
Sacrement or
VII: Sturm und Drang and that’s not at all Cruz’s fault.
Let’s not play the blame game today. For
Omens does have its share of bangers, that is to say new anthems primed for that next live show. Blythe’s dreaded hair whips from one side of the set to the other while guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler avoid tripping over them—riffs noodling away under the weight of insatiable groove. While long-time growler Blythe quickly adopts a spoken word aesthetic in opener, “Nevermore” the track itself takes a firm hold on the song-writing chops found a la
Resolution. Growling mastermind, Blythe still has
power, his screams cutting clearly over the mix with furor but the novelty of Randy’s clean vocals
still however leave a lot to be desired. It’s a given these days that fans of the group find Blythe’s vocal prowess as consistent as ever and their attention becomes rooted in the free-flowing riffs from Morton and Adler. Comparatively (with the
self-titled at least),
Omens has the band’s strongest string work since
Sacrement and in lesser parts
Resolution. Tracks like “To The Grave”, “Gomorrah” and the closer, “September Song” all shift into high octane groove fests, blending the best parts of Lamb of God’s back catalogue into their new era. There’s plenty of virulence for the band to sink their teeth into. Blythe and Morton both tell Apple Music that
Omens is a take on the state of the world right now; about feeling pissed off, about being fed fear and woe and depression through the media. If there was one thing Lamb of God has been known for over the years it’s being relatable to their audience both in America and abroad.
If I was to nit-pic on Lamb of God simply doing Lamb of God things I’d draw some ire for pointing the finger at the hook “Vanishing” for sounding too much like “Fear Machine” and causing a double take between album tracklists (
VII: Sturm und Drang) while “Gomorrah” recurs a lyrical idea that we’re “Set To Fail”. Perhaps these lyrical call backs are part of a larger contextual circle, but I can’t help feeling that Randy is running out of topics to sing about. Lamb of God aren’t as explorative as they used to be and while
Omens is the band’s ninth record to date it doesn’t diminish the comfort within their own scale ‘feeling’ new Lamb of God music presents. These are small gripes, not quite fit to take away from the achievements this little Virginian band has collected over the years and yet there’s not a lot skewing the likes of
Omens towards higher accolades. Pushing aside the woe, there are ear-turners just like the hardcore aesthetic in “Greyscale” or the outlandish punk vibes from late groover, “Denial Mechanism”. At times,
Omens sounds like Pantera reborn again, but mostly the album (and its respective songs) unironically just sound like Lamb of God.
Pleasingly, Lamb of God has found a new stride and shaken out some of the new kinks presented in the self-titled. More likely they've simply found their groove again and are less willing to simply autopilot their way through the next few albums. It’s good news for fans, and even better news for Lamb of God. If they keep going with their current trajectory,
Omens will be credited as the new ground zero to which this tower is built on. Lamb of God still exists apparently, and so does America’s new wave of heavy metal.
