Lamb Of God - Resolution review
| Band: | Lamb Of God |
| Album: | Resolution |
| Style: | Groove thrash metal |
| Release date: | January 24, 2012 |
| A review by: | Troy Killjoy |
Disc I
01. Straight For The Sun
02. Desolation
03. Ghost Walking
04. Guilty
05. The Undertow
06. The Number Six
07. Barbarosa
08. Invictus
09. Cheated
10. Insurrection
11. Terminally Unique
12. To The End
13. Visitation
14. King Me
Disc II [Wrath - Tour 2009-2010] [Limited pre-order bonus]
01. The Passing
02. In Your Words
03. Set To Fail
04. Walk With Me In Hell
05. Hourglass
06. Now You've Got Something To Die For
07. Ruin
08. As The Palaces Burn
09. Blacken The Cursed Sun
10. Laid To Rest
11. Redneck
12. Black Label
13. Digital Sands [iTunes bonus]
14. Vigil [live] [iTunes bonus]
15. Bury Me Under The Sun [Japanese edition bonus]
Remember when Lamb Of God were busy pioneering never-before-heard-of, genre-bending, boundary-pushing, avant-garde experimental transcendental music? Neither does anyone else. Resolution won't change the way you listen to the band's music either. Unless you continue to listen with the speakers off.
Okay, it's not that bad.* Really. But it's entirely void of the anger and spite that brought these alternative thrashers to the forefront of the pure American metal scene in the first place. It just comes across as routine now: by-the-numbers "redneck" metal for the masses. Not that they've taken a major step in any kind of new direction, but Resolution sounds like a collection of rejected demo songs from anything post-Ashes with a sexified production. Essentially some uninspired half-assed ideas that end at the beginning and don't even begin with much to their name in the first place.
Is it still safe to label them a groove metal band? Of course. The problem with that is the complete lack of anything else. You can't just write 14 songs that don't evolve beyond the single intro-hook combination. It's no different than listening to the repeated chorus from any hit pop single from the past decade, only instead of some annoyingly catchy vocal lines, you just get Randy shouting over some mild, run-of-the-mill thrashing. Yawn much.
That's pretty much all there is to say about such a one-dimensional release, an album that relies solely on a single recycled riff for nearly an hour. That's right. Just imagine listening to the thrash equivalent of Justin Bieber's "Baby" for 60 minutes.
* I lied. It's bad.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 4 |
| Originality: | 5 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 18.04.2012 by I'm total pro; that's what I'm here for. |
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
Resolution is the seventh studio album by American band Lamb Of God. It contains 14 tracks and has a running time of around 56-minutes. It sees the band consolidate their position as one of the most popular American metal bands of the last decade. Their familiar sound is still there on this album but it also contains some unexpected moments that show their willingness to experiment and evolve. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.0
9.0
|
Rating: 9.0 |
After the somewhat experimental, uneven Sacrament and phoned-in blandness of Wrath, Lamb Of God return with a vengeance on Resolution. Listening to this is like erasing the past 8 years and picking up right where the excellent Ashes Of The Wake left off. From the first dirty, southern guitar chords to Randy's shriek, I am back in high school again. The production is crystal clear, but not washed out. "Walk With Me In Hell," though a great song, sounded like it was recorded in a tin can, and Wrath in general was so compressed it felt like a SNES soundtrack. This is a return to the riff machine that made these guys top dogs to begin with. The guitar-work is fast, tight, and just plain fun. If you were one of the people who went racing for tabs after hearing "Laid To Rest" the first time, this is the album for you. There are too many moments to name, but the intro transition on "Ghost Walking," and the relentless "Terminally Unique" stick out in my mind at the moment. Read more ›› |
Comments page 4 / 4
Comments: 107
Visited by: 505 users
| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 09.05.2012 at 06:09 You're almost as repetitive as you claim this album to be. We heard you the first time, and the second time, and the third time and on and on about how much you don't like this album. Fair enough, you don't have to like everything they do. When does the time expire so that I can write my own review that gives a different point of view?
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by Ace Frawley on 01.07.2012 at 13:59 Go ahead and write your own glowing review any time, champ.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 01.07.2012 at 17:03 Roger that.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062  |
Written by Ace Frawley on 02.07.2012 at 12:19 I want to see this review of yours. Do you have an estimated release date? I can't wait!
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by Jaeryd on 27.12.2012 at 00:29 Funny you should ask because I was thinking of writing it today - or at least starting on it. I'm on holidays and have a bit of time. I've got a 15-month-old and she has kept me very busy over the past six months.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062 |
Written by Ace Frawley on 27.12.2012 at 04:54 Sorry, just making a shitty joke. I know the feeling, I got kids myself. Once they start walking, you can't let them out of your sight for more than .5 seconds or they're getting into something they shouldn't be.
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| Scorpyin Posts: 22  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 09.05.2012 at 06:09 That is just inaccurate (see, i can do it too). Everything I've said is all subjective, it's called an opinion chummly. Just because someone elses opinion is different that doesn't make them 'inaccurate' or wrong. You say its 'stripped down' and I'd say they've simplified their music and songs take one solid direction now, instead of being so all over the map with riffs and progressions. What you've said actually isn't really subjective either, and could legitly be called 'inaccurate', when have LOG ever released anything even remotely close to king me? Or hear Randy sing clean(ish) like in insurrection? Or hear LOG play their usual thrash style fused with a little bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd? Hardly a 'stripped down version of everything they've done'. Or maybe that's still subjective. Either way, what I said cannot be called wrong on the grounds that you understand what an opinion is...
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by Scorpyin on 22.02.2013 at 11:19 I thought Troy Killjoy's review of this album was negatively biased so I wrote my own (I would say) more balanced review. See: http://metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=11463
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by deadone on 29.05.2014 at 08:36 Remember when I said I wrote some reviews a while back that I look on as "learning experiences"? This is one of them.  Too biased and negative for the sake of it. In fact I'd like to re-write this even though I'm pretty sure my rating would stay about the same (with the possibility of jumping up at a 6 at best). I remember Ace was commenting about how opinionated it was and lacking in overall description and I tend to agree - I think my inner LoG fanboy at the time was just too upset about what I considered to be the first real dud in their discography. You are right in that it doesn't try to be progressive or artsy or any of that stuff, and there's a ton of music I enjoy that follows those same lines, but I felt like this was just such a step back in terms of songwriting and incredibly derivative of a sound that already lacked in the creativity department. These guys are always fun to listen to when I need mindless aggressive music with a bit of a catchy edge and more discernible lyrics than your average death metal band, but this album wasn't fun for me to listen to at all.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by deadone on 30.05.2014 at 01:39 I thought the court case occurred after this album had been written and recorded.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by deadone on 30.05.2014 at 05:29 Yeah, I know that but he was only arrested in June 2012 and the court case occurred after that. So that all happened long after the writing of the album. Or were you suggesting the incident and the thought of possibly being arrested may have had an impact on the writing of the album? I didn't know whether there was an arrest warrant out for him or not - if there was, I thought they would have avoided visiting the country.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by deadone on 31.05.2014 at 16:28 Yeah, fair point then. I still think it's a good album though.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Dr.Overkill26 Posts: 112  |
I think it's a great album too, a lot of the songs seem to have switched it up, instead of being groovy they're almost like Math Metal, It reminds me of AJFA with the constant Changes. And NO I'm not comparing Resolution with AJFA's Greatness, for me that album's a 10/10. While Resolution, while excellent in my opinion, Is certainly NOT.
---- Do you need what I need? Boundaries overthrown Look inside to each his own Do you trust what I trust? me myself and I Penetrate the smoke screen I see Through the selfish lie
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| ferroy Posts: 2 |
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| fever12 Posts: 3 |
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| Doge of Venice Posts: 444  |
Written by fever12 on 04.05.2015 at 23:13 What is your definition of production?
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