Lamb Of God - New American Gospel
2000 Metal Blade
by Skin Splitter

Quick Summary:
Describing themselves at pure American metal and signed to Metal Blade Records, Lamb of God (formally Burn the Priest), came up with this ten 
song debut release.  Is it any good?  In one word yes.  In two words, hell yes.  

The band's sound is difficult to explain.  It might be the production value on this one but, a lot of the album is drum oriented and they are out in the forefront.  This isn't really a problem if you like double bass, really high symbol hits, and different snare and tom sounds.  However, the drums were recorded tough, and I mean tough.  A bass hit 
almost sounds like a regular snare hit, and if you're listening to this album too loud, those symbol hits are pure hell as they are driven straight into your ear with no filtration.  The guitars are very good and really produce a hard hitting heavy sound even though they are only tuned in drop-D.  For the people who don't know notes, listen to this album, and listen to Tool - Ænima and you're listening to the same tuning.  Few can bring a hard hitting path of destruction in drop-D anymore.  Bass is also heard in the album which is a rarity these days.  The singer (screamer) is a little different.  He is loud and higher pitched for having the typical death metal style.  However, either due to the production value or my patience level, I can't understand a damn thing he is saying.  However, if that doesn't matter to you (since it doesn't bother me), the music that they are playing is very good.  It surprises me that this is their first major release.  They sound like they have been playing for decades with the tightness of their sound.  There's a lot of tempo and musical changes here to help keep the album interesting.  Even though it's about 40 minutes long.  

Website:  www.lamb-of-god.com

Song Summaries:

1. Black Label - Gets you a good feel of what the album is going to be like.  Good drum intro and fun double bass.  A-
2. A Warning - Complete drum driven song.  About half way through the song it changes into a death Metal style followed by a good hardcore breakdown that makes you want to hit things.  A-
3. In The Absence Of The Sacred - Chanting vocals after the intro followed by good healthy chugs on the guitar to enhance the double bass.  Four to five different tempo/riff changes here.  B+
4. Letter To The Unborn - Lot's a double bass and drum work on this one.  However, the tempo changes don't really happen here like the other songs.  B-
5. Black Dahlia - Wonderful combination of death metal and Megadeth riffs here.  Combined with chanting vocals and good double bass spurts.  This one is a joy to listen to.  A
6. Terror And Hubris In The House Of Frank Pollard - Long 1:45 intro that can get boring.  The vocals are a little different at first but change back to their original form later.  Good song but not that great of for this album.  C+
7. Subtle Arts Of Murder And Persuasion - Creepy guitar intro.  Makes me think of zombies dragging axes down a road.  The rest of the song is slow and powerful but not my style and doesn't really fit back into the album scheme until about 2:30.  B-
8. Pariah - There is a lot happening in this song.  It starts out death
   metal-like, then it goes into a hardcore like slow forceful riff.  Then
   the next minute it's going fast, then it drops into a death metal low
   chug, high string combo.  Then at 2:58, nothing but chugs and harmonics.  Then back to hardcore.  A+
9. Confessional - Drum intro of nothing but double bass and high hat.  Then bring in the bass and guitar and you have fun.  Then at 1:48 double bass goes out the window for even more double bass.  If that's not triggered, then I need an adult to tell me to throw my musical equipment out the door.  Good song just for the double bass.  A
10. O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E. - Slow intro for the outro song, but don't worry.  1:33 into it the double bass and guitars "wake up" to bring back the fury.  Then at the end it goes back to the intro riff.  B+

Average Song Rating:  B+
Overall Album Rating:  A

Also be sure to read:
Burn The Priest - Burn The Priest by Skin Splitter
Lamb Of God - As The Palaces Burn by Skin Splitter
Lamb Of God - Ashes Of The Wake by Skin Splitter
Lamb Of God - Sacrament by Horatio

Discography (last updated 9.28.06):
New American Gospel - 2000
As The Palaces Burn - 2003
As The Palaces Burn EP - 2003
Ashes Of The Wake - 2004
Pure American Metal EP - 2004
Killadelphia EP - 2005
Sacrament - 2006