Lamb of God – New American Gospel – Review

Lamb of God

New American Gospel (Prosthetic)
by Martin Popoff

Kick the hard-ass end of Pantera into a Relapse blender, grind thoroughly, and then slurp back over a hearty human lunch with Cannibal and you get close to the whirlwind of front-edge extremity that is Virginia’s Lamb Of God. The fact that Today Is The Day’s Steve Austin is on board as frantic producer possessor might have something to do with the frenetic, chaotic genre-splicing that’s going on here. But then again, this sounds too well-mapped, planned and theorized to succumb to one outsider’s will, even when that man is spoon-bender Austin. The interesting thing here is that every character trait dogpiling this record is uniquely American, from California death to Florida death, L.A. jazzcore to New England noisecore, from NYC hardcore to Soilent NOLA sludge, and back round to Texas. And all through the chops afire conflagration is an insistent, pounding metal, topped with lyrics more poetic than usual about bad things. And note, despite the curious band and album moniker, this ain’t halo metal, more like post-Satan terror on Earth and terror in the head lashings about the face, neck and shoulder area. Smart touch with the booklet: tan non-gloss with multiple brown and metallic inks.