LAMB OF GOD:

• New American Gospel (2000) Anyone who remembers the band Slapdash will get the general gist of this band, at least guitar wise. On the vocal front, this guy is a lot closer to the hard core screams of say Chimaira. But on the riff front, a lot of this stuff is very Meshuggah. I don't mean just sorta like Meshuggah, or vaguely inspired by Meshuggah, I mean like totally ripped off of Meshuggah. Track 1 on this album contains a riff identical to the opening of 'Future Breed Machine', track 2 contains a riff from "Chaosphere", followed very quickly by the 7/4 part from 'Future Breed Machine'. Track 5 back to Chaosphere again. Anyways, despite all that, the album has a good vibe, good production, if you ever wanted Meshuggah's material reimagined in the form of a hardcore band, well, here we go. Gotta give them low marks for originality though. New American Gospel, with just a slight Swedish influence :)
• As The Palaces Burn (2003) So as you may remember (or read above), I didn't like the first album much at all. I mean, it wasn't horrible, it was just unoriginal and nothing special enough to persuade me to put it back into my cd player after I finished writing the review. Anyways, so they release a new album, and I read really positive reviews, and people saying it's a great album. Hell, even the package has the sticker "The most devastating album of the year" - Revolver Magazine. So I'm like, ok, maybe they got their act together and made a really great album. So after all the hype, I take a listen, and I'm sorry, my first review of the band stands, not horrible, but really nothing special. Track 1 is a perfect example, the main riff is a pretty standard metal riff, and they play it again, and again and again. Yes, I heard the riff the first time thank you. They have some thrashy riffs (and again, a few that sound very Meshuggahish), and a few bits are sort of intense, but otherwise they rock too much and make riffs that just don't stick in my head. Also, the production is pretty substandard, with a very muffled sound and not too much bass at all. It's sort of like the anti scooped sound, instead of lots of high end and low end, it's lots of mids with no highend or low end. I'll close by saying again, this isn't a bad cd, and I can maybe see some people getting into this, but it just doesn't grab my interest.
• Ashes Of The Wake (2004) I am a sucker for punishment I suppose. You'd think after being bitten twice I wouldn't come back again, me and Lamb Of God where through. So imagine my horror when I'm watching Headbanger's Ball and I see a new video off of the new Lamb Of God album, and the song is really cool. 'Laid to Rest' has this really kick-ass start/stop guitar riff with a squawk, and some interesting double bass underneath, and then gets super chunky, and I'm sitting there going "God no, I don't want to have to buy another cd from this band and have it suck like the others did. And yet this song is cool", so finally I compromised and bought the cd used, so at least if it blew I wouldn't be wasting a lot of cash. So now I have the full album, and it's actually a marked improvement over their first two. Like, way better. First, the production is no longer muffled, it's a really great mix in fact. It's sort of like on their previous album the amps were covered in pillows and someone removed the pillows for this release. So it still sounds like the band, only good now. Also the riffs tend to be better and the songs aren't as repetitive. While none of the other songs are quite as good as the opener, the rest of the album gets a definitely A minus. It seems I've finally found a Lamb Of God album that will get repeated play in my cd player, and I highly recommend checking this out.
• Killadelphia (2005, DVD)
• Sacrament (2006) Well, the coolness of their last album is gone and all that's left in the wake is my original opinion of this band. I'm sorry guys, I've really tried, but I guess our relationship was never meant to be. Listening to this album, I'm just struck with how ordinary it is. There's no 'Laid to Rest' here (although 'Beating On Deaths Door' is pretty fast and has some good riffs), and I have to ask is there anything here at all that wasn't already done by bands like Pantera over 10 years ago? The sound is good, it's not like this material is bad, it's just not mind-blowing. The album finishes and I can't hum a single riff. That's it, I'm calling it quits. If you dig this band, you may dig this album. But this is the end for me.
  

• The Onslaught (2009) So few bands are producing thrash these days, never mind good thrash. But this is one of those bands. Shadows of all the greats are here, Slayer, Testament ("Practice"-era). This band's strength isn't in it's inventiveness (I can't think of any particular riff that made me say "I've never heard that before"), this band makes it on pure conviction. The songs are fast, powerful, super tight, and high energy. They know when to bring on the fast headbanging moment, when to slow it down to a nice halfspeed moshable bit. The vocalist's midrange raspy snarls work perfectly with the crunchy guitar riffs, blistering solos, and solid drumming (he sure knows when to bring the double bass on for full effect). So if you want to listen to some old school thrash with a more modern sense of production value, this band certainly kept a smile on my face.
  

• Eternal Darkness (1995, Demo)
• Superior Ignotum (1995)
• Now Is Forever (1998, Demo)
• Disco's Out - Slaughter's In (1999, Split)
• Polish Assault (2000, Split)
• Scream Of The Mourning Star (2000)
• Ubermensch (Death Of A God) (2002)
• Chaostream (2005) Someone recommended this to me as a good companion for Behemoth's 'Demigod', and I can certainly see the connection, although my first thought upon hearing them was Morbid Angel. Funny how that works, Earache and Morbid Angel parts ways, and so Earache scoops up Lost Soul who sound kinda similar. Ah, where business and artistry collide. But anyways, despite the fact the band doesn't have much originality to offer, they still kicks some serious ass. The song writing is really excellent, the tunes have some really awesome riffs, and are really intense. No intros or anything to break things up, but there's enough variety in tempo and the riffs to give each song a little of it's own character. The drumming is super fast, reminiscent of Max in Krisiun but with more variety. The vocals are hoarse shouts, not as low as David Vincent in Morbid Angel, but not quite as high as the guy from Behemoth. The production is super well mixed too, and a nice thick guitar tone. Favorite song is probably 'Angel's City', it has this part in the middle where the whole band is blasting at top speed and everything really seems to gel. This is a really brutal album and for fans of Behemoth, Morbid Angel or Krisiun I highly recommend picking this up.
• Immerse In Infinity (2009) Very similar to their last album, but with a few tweaks. First, there are intros this time between songs, that do help to break the album up a bit. The other big tweak is song length, every song is between 6 and 8 minutes long. While I'm all for epic songs, I feel that perhaps this album would have done better to shorten them ever so slightly. There are still plenty of great riffs, but the song separation they gained from the intros is minimized because the songs are far longer. So don't expect any "This particular song really kicks ass", this is an album that's meant to be enjoyed as an album all the way through. All that said, this is a really brutal and super fast album with a really big ballsy sound, performing this material live must really be a challenge. Fans of their last album will love this one too.
  

• Ache (1993, Demo)
• Never Promised You A Rosegarden (1994)
• Closeyoureyesanditwonthurt
• Fracture (1998) I could make all sorts of comparisons between this band and other acts such as Meshuggah, Machine Head or Slapdash, but, well, ok, I will make the comparisons. Lots of complex rhythms repeated again and again in an industrial fashion. The riffs are a little less technical than Meshuggah, more catchy like Machine Head. The production is definitely tight like Meshuggah (Daniel Bergstrand does the production), with lots of low thick guitar riffs and spacy echoed single note picking. A mixture of yelled and spooky spoken word vocals. Good consistent song writing and strong song structure keeps the repeated riffs from becoming tedious. All in all, nothing new, but good songs, good riffs and good production equal something worth checking out for fans of the genre.

• The Arsonist And The Architect (2000) With grindcore, there's a fine line between brutal and mundane. And I'm afraid to say after listening to this release, I really wasn't moved. Although grindcore was never really about originality, other bands such as Blood Duster or Exhumed are at least trying something a bit different, or else they're so over the top brutal in their sound that they stand out. This band does neither, and sorta falls into the category of good but never anything too different releases. The sound is ok, 6 shortish songs, lacks bass and sounds a little nasally, there's a few good riffs, but otherwise pretty standard, I'd probably only recommend this to someone who needs to own all the grind that exists, sorry guys.

• Old School New School (1999) Somewhere between blues, rock and metal, Lungbrush has taken up where COC's "Blind" album left off. Angry old school rock metal might be the best description, the guitars hit you with riff after riff, nothing too technical or complex, but very catchy (A few songs are so so, but there are lots of good songs too). The drumming is powerful and pounding, and the singer definitely sounds like someone has pissed him off. Excellent production with a good mix and plenty of low end. If you want something that's catchy but still angry, and you're a COC or Machine Head fan, check out this band.

• Advance Rough-Mix Demo (2003)
• Self Titled Demo 2005 (2005)
• Lupara (2007) Saw the video on headbangers ball and thought it was cool. Then when I found out Jeremy Wagner from Broken Hope (RIP) was involved, that just sealed the deal. Don't expect this to sound like Broken Hope though. Lupara sounds a little more like Obituary with it's midpaced songs and the general feel of the rhythms (chunky mostly with lots of palm muting and some midpaced tremolo picking). The guitar tone is awesome, it's really crunchy and distorted without becoming mushy. The drums are mostly pounding, with a few well placed double kicks. Vocals are a little more hardcore oriented, think the stuff that Mike DiSalvo did with Cryptopsy. And the songs are good, with plenty of memorable riffs that get you moving. I especially like their first single, 'No Pity On The Ants', that opening riff just crushes. According to their website, a "lupara" is a sawed-off, Sicilian shotgun that mafia soldiers carry as one of their primary weapons. A lupara is rumored to be so powerful, it can blow a man in half. And that's a great way to describe this music. Impressive debut, I see a promising future ahead of them.

• Rest in Hell (2000, Demo)
  
• Infesting The Exhumed (2002) Ok, you basically know what you're in for when you get a cd with an eviscerated woman on the cover and the album starts with a clip from a porno flick (Track 1 BTW is wonderfully titled 'Festering Anal Vomit', wow, never would have thought of that one). What ensues is a decent cd from a tight little death metal band. Super low gargly vocals, a slightly muffled production but very low and bass heavy (If you listen to Malignancy you know the kind of sound we've got here). Lots of blasting, tremolo picking, fast alternate picked stuff. The songs are good although no particular riff stands out as being spectacular or particularly memorable. Although there are some pretty memorable soundclips in there, especially the Mister Rogers one, but, well, I'm not gonna ruin the surprise. If you like low fast gargly death metal, worth checking into, but the band will probably have a tough time differentiating themselves from the other stuff out there.
• Kingdom of Corpses (2004) The first thing that hit me was "wow, their sound has changed a bunch". Basically, we have something with a little more treble to it, and a little less bass. While that may sound ideal considering their bass heavy previous album, the mix is still a little soft, and they may have actually removed a little too much bass from the mix. Otherwise, it's more of the same, chunky stuff, blasting stuff. While nothing revolutionary, their last album sort of grew on me and found it's way into my cd player a lot more often than I would have originally guessed, and the same may happen for this cd.
• Purity Through Dismemberment (2006) Another 30 minute blastfest, tons of tremolo picking, complex and super fast drumming, and low gargled vocals. The main thing that's different is a huge step up in production quality, it's like the difference between night and day. The bass that their last album lacked is back and then some. The highend isn't the focus of the mix but there's enough of it to not sound muffled, just a touch of reverb to add dimension, and you have the band's best sounding mix yet. The songs are a little generic without any particular song that stands out above the rest, but the performance is intense and well executed. If you've liked the band's previous albums, or really dig guys like Disgorge, you're gonna love this album.

• Elvenefris (2000) Imagine the music of Cryptopsy mixed with the ambiance of Nile and way more keyboards and you're about half way to understanding what this band is all about. The album is very two sided, on one hand, you have these super fast, Cryptopsy's "None So Vile" style blast fests (in fact, some of the riffs sound a little too similar to that album really, including Lord Worm-esque growls and gurgles, an identical guitar tone and riffing style and the drummer doing his best Flo Mounier impression). Then you have the light ambient side of the band, which includes keyboards, melodic guitars, acoustic guitars, thick keyboards, spoken word segments, even birdsong. The interesting thing is that these two faces change back and forth at the drop of a hat, instead of like a calm intro followed by craziness, you'll have a bar of craziness, followed by a bar of calm, followed by a bar of craziness. It makes for some varied and sonically complex compositions to be sure. A lot of the riffs have a strong eastern / egyptian influence to their scales, hence the Nile connection. Production is good, but is ever so slightly muffled and could use a little more bass. Overall, while I find the angry parts a little too much like "None So Vile", the rest of what the band is doing is pretty damn unique, it takes some seriously strong songwriting skills to hold material like this together, avoiding a huge mess which is what you'd think such diversity would give. If you're interested in hearing something a little different after an unending supply of Disgorge clones, this material sure fits the bill. Killer stuff.