Death is June- Lamb of God : "S/T"

These guys have always had thrash and hard core influnces.  They followed in Pantera's footsteps and wrote catchy riffs on albums like "Sacrament" to transcend many trends that came and went since their inception in 1999. Easy to lump in as metal core, but really closer to death metal than the rest of the Myspace metal bands. They just write catchier songs than your average death metal band. The first two songs work of that formula. "Reality Bath" has that more new school hook and the drums not courtesy of Arturo Cruz are not obsessed with double bass though he can pull it out as needed. They are kings of groove and fine tunely riffs. Granted their mainstream success has been due to dumbing it down for the masses which they continue to do here. "Sacrament" is the last album I was really into by these guys , but have heard them all.

Lyrically it is pseudo social non sense. Blythe has a set formula or apporaching songs going from lower death metal growls to the more Pantera like screams. By screams just that , not hitting actual notes. There is Slayer influence to a riff here and there as well. They learned from the best. Are they less death metal than Amon Amarth? Yes. More thrash for sure. Less epic. Both occupy the upper tiers of sales when it comes to mainstream metal. Put this album against the last Morbid Angel album and it doesn't seem that heavy. To a frat boy...this is heavy. They are smart song writers though. "Resurrection Man" with it's horror themes is darker and better than what we have heard up to this point. It is the best song of the album's first act.  They do not try to be more hard core when Jamey Jasta shows up for  "Poison Dream". It's more of the death tinged thrash.

Chuck Billy makes an "Appearence" on the more frantically paced "Routes". He gives the sun vocal hook on the chorus. His voice is mixed behind Blythes more growled accents. Not utilized to the best of his ability. The last two songs I had to listen to a couple of times before they sank in. The sung vocals on "Bloodshot Eyes" are well done, but the song itself is not their best. It feels like a wink in the direction of Slipknot. "On the Hook" is pretty much color by number. I think the previous album was better production wise and a bigger guitar sound and more bass would have benefitted this album. I am rounding this album down to an 8.5 , while it is well done on many levels , it feels like they are just clocking into work  rather than reflecting on their lives and putting it to music.