Band:	Lamb Of God
Album:	Ashes Of The Wake
Style:	Groove thrash metal
Release date:	August 2004

Disc I
01. Laid To Rest
02. Hourglass
03. Now You've Got Something To Die For
04. The Faded Line
05. Omerta
06. Blood Of The Scribe
07. One Gun
08. Break You
09. What I've Become
10. Ashes Of The Wake
11. Remorse Is For The Dead
12. Another Nail For Your Coffin [Japanese bonus]

Disc II [First pressing bonus: Pure American Metal]
01. Bloodletting
02. The Subtle Arts Of Murder And Persuasion
03. 11th Hour
04. Black Label [live]
05. Laid To Rest [demo]

I am really glad I didn't review this album one week ago, because I would have said something like 'this album is a terrible disappointment, it has nothing special, everything that made As The Palaces Burn so great has vanished...'. It is not my opinion anymore. Actually the mistake I was about to make would have been to not give more time to this new release. Fact is that Ashes Of The Wake, just like As The Palaces Burn last year, is a grower. You may not find it great or something at first, but you keep coming back to it until you realize that yes, indeed, it's an ass-kicker.

I still keep my opinion though. Ashes Of The Wake is not as good as the previous album. What I mean by that is that all songs out of this album are equally great, but except maybe the opener 'Laid To Rest', there is no outstanding track like 'The Art Of Ruin', '11th Hour' or 'Take You Away'. Despite its sheer quality, this album lacks in one or two more potentially cult songs. The other reproach is that there has not been a real evolution between both albums. But that's whining for nothing, after all it's been only one year since As The Palaces Burn (and on a personal plan I am a fan of Iron Maiden, a band that releases the same album since 20 years ).

About the good things now: this album is without compromise. Bands that have an early success like Lamb Of God often tend to include more 'commercial' elements to their music, but not these guys. Ashes Of The Wake is an ode to violence, aggression and headbanging (musically, lyric-wise it's more social commitment, anti-war, anti-stuff). There is still the required bits of melody, like on 'The Faded Line' or 'Remorse Is For The Dead', but most of the time it's your everyday Lamb Of God, catchy, powerful, dominating, with great riffs ('Now You've Got Something To Die For', 'Omerta') and the raw vocal attacks of Randy Blythe. Plus they've managed to get Alex Skolnick (former guitar-hero of Testament) out of his jazzy experimentations and to hire Chris Poland of Megadeth fame for killer solos on the instrumental 'Ashes Of The Wake'.

Well, forget my miserable complaints of the beginning, Ashes of The Wake is still better than an awful lot of releases of this year. Quietly, Lamb Of God is imposing its trademark among the best thrash bands, and no doubt that with riffs of the quality of 'Blood Of The Scribe' and 'Hourglass', they'll make it to the top in no time. Meanwhile, maybe you should switch off your computers and go buy this album. Sounds like a good idea, huh?

Highlights: Laid To Rest, Now You've Got Something To Die For, Omerta