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by DAN SOUTHALL
THE world is on fire, and no one is doing anything about it.
Your favourite artists are too scared to act or react like they have done in the past. The time for soapbox standing is now. Randy Blythe and the rest of Lamb of God understand the assignment and the size of the pedestal they stand upon. This is the angriest and most progressive the band have sounded since Ashes of the Wake, challenging us to look both at the world at large, and closer to home, to see what you can do to help make it better for someone else.
Wasting no time, Lamb of God get straight to brass tacks on opener ‘Into Oblivion’, calling the current political climate and its blind sycophants out on the shitstorm of their making, a point driven even harder on follow up ‘Parasocial Christ’ as it rallies against an obvious though un-named world leader.
While it is always about rallying against the world, this album isn’t about just bludgeoning it like in eras past. Across the last few albums this band has been experimenting with different musical and vocal approaches without upsetting the masses too much. That has all gone out the window this time. Sludgey bass guitar intros not once but twice on ‘Sepsis’ and the groovy ‘A Thousand Years’, both tracks carrying a menacing spoken growl courtesy of Blythe, expanding his vocal range once again.
The biggest change to be found is the mournful ballad-like ‘El Vacio’ that has the band slowing to a pace they haven’t got to before, coupled with another newfound vocal range that is far superior to what clean singing Blythe has tried on previous releases.
Beyond the musical experiments, Into Oblivion again asks what kind of place we are going to leave behind without this voice of reason, because we should all be angry and this could be the starting point for other larger bands to rattle cages rattled and expose more darkness to the light.
