Into Oblivion is the first new album from Lamb Of God in four years. Where does it sit in the vast discography of the Virginian metallers?

INTO OBLIVION

There’s level of trepidation that comes with approaching a latter-day Lamb of God album. Whilst it would appear that they would never have the capacity to be intrinsically poor, there is always the distinct possibility that it may appear a) a little phoned-in (s/t) or b) slightly running out of ideas (Omens). With this in mind, and the sight of flames and pitchforks approaching at pace, where does Into Oblivion sit? The good news is that the ideas are indeed there. Just not all of them a raging success.

The title track sets out with a decent chug, incorporating a nice time change and a delightfully understated chorus. Some bizarre stereo panning circa 1973 lets it down a little, as does a breakdown that could have appeared on any Lamb Of God record in the past decade.

Art Cruz seems to peeking out from the shadow of Chris Adler now. St Catherine’s Wheel and Parasocial Christ both contain some skittering beats, and there is a pleasingly staccato midsection on The Killing Floor. Some nice tributes to Great Southern Trendkill-era Pantera appear across A Thousand Years and El Vacio.

INTERESTING TURNS…

It is the latter where the album takes a more interesting turn, too. Showing some welcome restraint, a gently picked riff and a sludgy chorus add some much needed variety to proceedings. It acts as the gateway to a less formulaic back end.

Blunt Force Blues provokes the first intuitive mosh of the album, redeeming a slightly generic chorus with spoken word breakdown and a Tompa-esque “Go” into a knuckled groove. The aforementioned A Thousand Years has some subtle cymbal work and an actual guitar solo. For approximately five seconds. St Anger it is not, but if you’ve come looking for fret-wanking, you are mostly out of luck on Into Oblivion.

Whilst it would be churlish to hold a band of their stature to account for this, it does give the album a certain one-note quality which is sometimes hard to shake; especially compounded by the repeated identikit breakdowns and slightly flaccid closer Devise/Destroy – which is no Vigil or Beating on Death’s Door, but does have an intriguing intro.

If you’ve come looking for progression, then I suspect you are primed for failure. That said, if you’ve come looking for Lamb of God to be Lamb of God, then there won’t be much room for disappointment.

Lamb Of God: Website

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