Lamb of God Hourglass (Volume III: The Vault)
by Trevor Portz
Staff Writer
Whether celebrating their 15-year anniversary or cashing in on their current popularity, New Wave of American Heavy Metallers Lamb of God have just issued a multi-volume retrospective (available in formats ranging from vinyl to USB drives) entitled Hourglass. As the first two volumes are little more than a greatest-hits package, we’ll only focus on Volume III: The Vault, which certainly is the most interesting volume for longtime fans. And, due to its inclusion of early Burn the Priest tracks, it also may be the best part of the set.
As with most NWOAHM bands, Lamb of God rose from the ashes of nu-metal, infusing the groovy aggression of that genre with more technicality, more balls and a much less jock-rock backbone. Unfortunately, with all of the improvements made over nu-metal, the one thing left unchanged was a huge lack of variety among the songs. Tempos, riffs, tunings, etc. rarely deviate from a very specific place, causing many of the songs within a band—and even bands within the scene—to become virtually interchangeable. Sure, overt variety is rare in most defined styles—that’s why they can be counted as distinct styles—but when the reliance is almost entirely on groove with little accounting for melody, dynamics or stylistic variation, to put it bluntly, everything starts sounding the same. Hourglass Volume III exemplifies this notion as the bulk of the tracks are almost indistinguishable from each other.
Now, to be fair, Lamb of God is far from lacking in the technical talent area. All instruments and members are beyond well-oiled, and the band functions almost as a heavy, groovy machine; every part working in perfect synchronicity with the rest. While many riffs do blur together, most songs do contain extremely cool, interesting riffs, but they tend to be buried in the middle or end of the songs. Why hide the best parts and surround them by un-original, cookie-cutter metal? A great example of this—though the same could be said for most tracks—appears in the once Japanese-pressing-only track “Another Nail For Your Coffin.” While the bulk of the song is rather forgettable, several minutes in, we’re treated to a great melodic riff, replete with guitar harmonies and solos. This should have been the basis for the entire song. Perhaps the band is afraid of deviating too far from what they know, but as bands like Strapping Young Lad have shown us, there are a lot of ways to be heavy. Just because your low E (or more likely, C, B, or whatever) is “heavy,” doesn’t mean it’s the only string you should touch.
Moving on, after several previously hard-to-find bonus tracks, we get a batch of rehearsal demos. These songs illustrate the tightness and skill of the band, though they also bring to light how much “perfecting” is done in the studio, as the computer accuracy of the playing is lacking, revealing that much of it obviously is helped with a computer. However, It is nice to know that the members are incredibly competent, as there are other bands in the scene that barely can dream of recreating their studio perfection.
The last two “chapters” on the disc take us back to the early, pre-Lamb of God days, when the band was known as Burn the Priest. Compiling tracks from a tour tape and 7-inch EP, these tracks arguably are the best part of Hourglass. In their Burn the Priest guise, LoG were already showing bits of what they would become, but they also feature a punky rawness that would be lost as the band evolved (or devolved, depending on how you look at it). Missing are the repetitive, chugga-chugga riffs, with songs instead held together with hardcore and punk-inspired bursts of energy, occasionally even veering into grindcore territory. If anything, it would appear that Burn the Priest truly was the “original” band, as the ideas used way back when showed a group with something very new and interesting to say (and play), which sadly seemed to have faded as the band gained wide acceptance.
For Lamb of God fans, Hourglass (well, Volume III, at least) will be a very worthwhile purchase, likely filling in a few holes and delivering some rarely heard material to those who have everything else. Of course, for new fans, it also will serve as an excellent glimpse of the band throughout the years, detailing the band’s gradual rise to Grammy-recognized fame. Just don’t expect to be blown away by diverse song writing and unique songs. Then again, how many bands actually can claim they have either of those things?
Genre: Heavy Metal
Band:
Randy Blythe (v)
Mark Morton (g)
Willie Adler (g)
John Campbell (b)
Chris Adler (d)
Abe Spear (g)
Track Listing:
1. “We Die Alone”
2. “Shoulder Of Your God”
3. “Condemn The Hive”
4. “Another Nail For Your Coffin”
5. “Nippon”
6. “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For”
7. “Hourglass”
8. “More Time to Kill”
9. “Dead Seeds”
10. “In Your Words”
11. “Leech”
12. “Salivation”
13. “Lame”
14. “Duane”
15. “Ruiner”
16. “Ballad of Kansas City”
17. “Suffering Bastard”
18. “Preaching to the Converted”
Label: Epic Records
Website: www.lamb-of-god.com
Hardrock Haven rating: 6/10