HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Sacrament – Lamb Of God
LAMB OF GOD didn’t need much more help solidifying themselves in the metal mythos after 2004’s Ashes Of The Wake. The record spread the gospel of the Richmond groove metal quintet further than ever before, and it’s potent and acerbic observations of the false pretenses and bloody reality of the Iraq War, combined with some of the hookiest, most ferocious riffs of the early aughts drew the praise of publications, critics, and listeners alike. Songs like Now You’ve Got Something To Die For and Omerta are some of the best examples of what the New Wave of American Heavy Metal had to offer at its height, and Laid To Rest is perhaps one of the most iconic modern metal tracks of the past twenty years. They were touring arenas, and had created a massive live DVD in Killadelphia. And as 2006 arrived, the age old question did as well. Would their next record be able to compete with their last? The answer was perhaps LAMB OF GOD‘s most accomplished body of work to date.
The making of Sacrament saw the reintroduction of producer Machine who worked on Ashes Of The Wake. This would be a true reintroduction, as Machine himself admitted the band didn’t let him explore as much of his vision on the previous record as he would have liked. That would all change with Sacrament, and his new level of communication and partnership with the band let to a crispness and power few metal records, even future LAMB OF GOD records, could match. The journey there, however, was not the smoothest of sailing for all parties involved. But pushing past the disagreements and compromise, the band worked consistently to craft a batch of songs exploring more pain and personal darkness than ever before. Mark Morton and Randy Blythe split lyric writing, and their own struggles emerged in pure vitriol. On the other side of the process, the rest of the band honed their technical chops to an even greater degree of tightness across the board. There is a weighty sense of self-assuredness in the sound and delivery of Sacrament that is immediately palpable to the listener from first play to last.
One huge element that emerged to an even greater degree from this self assuredness is the sheer-catchiness and hook focused approach on a majority of the songs on this record. There is, of course, Redneck, a song with one of the top ten catchiest choruses in modern metal, and a song that has risen to a level of infamy and popular consciousness in metal that Laid To Rest has; no easy feat. The sheer bounce and middle fingers up attitude of the song is unparalleled, and it really sees Blythe explore intonation within his screaming, adding a subtle sense of harsh melody. The staples continue with Walk With Me In Hell, a forever fan favourite and a lyrical reminder of the shining light in the midst of seeming eternal shadow, not to mention an intro that still induces goosebumps with it’s eerie and insect like crawl across the fretboard.
There are songs of absolute vocal devastation like More Time To Kill, which features some of Randy‘s most throat shredding and brutal vocals in any LAMB OF GOD track, and there are tracks that fit right into the perfect headbanging groove metal pocket that the band has perfected over the course of their career, and which they took to a new level here. Again We Rise and Blacken The Cursed Sun are the embodiment of barnburners, a subtle art that the band truly took to heart on Sacrament. The iconic tracks go on and on, but they truly feel like the medium for a cleansing both within the dynamics of the band itself, and within Blythe in particular.
The band’s past vices and tensions had led to well documented fights and fraying at the seams, and certainly a few of the lyrics on Sacrament seek to air grievances and finally express through rage some of the feelings that had lay beneath the surface. But where this album excels the most, beyond the instrumental proficiency and impeccable production, and even the hook and groove centric focus, is the honest expression of Randy Blythe. This record, perhaps more so than any of the band’s records until Sturm Und Drang, feels among the most personally dark, and Randy, self admittedly as expressed in the making of documentary for the record, speaks of the struggles he was going through at the time with alcohol and in his own personal life. It makes for riveting listening through all the headbanging and attitude this album gives off, and the sense of pure desperation angst Blythe vomits up on songs like Pathetic and Descending can only come from a place of deep willingness to express.
Sacrament very much feels like a ‘right time, right place’ album. Every element that came together to create one of LAMB OF GOD‘s most iconic records came from a combination of natural progression in skill and intimacy as a band, and also a willingness to open up and trust others and themselves. It was a direct shift from the looking outward of Ashes Of The Wake to looking inward at themselves as musicians, friends, and people. And when you have a band this talented moving into that phase of life and making a record in its wake, then you have a modern metal staple. Sacrament is technicality, aggression, attitude, angst, and cohesion, but more than all of those things it is a newfound level of honesty that LAMB OF GOD has never looked back from.
Sacrament (15th Anniversary Edition) is out now via Epic Records.
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