Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There’s a lot to be said for the way that Lamb of God go about their business. Two or three decades earlier they even would have arguably been placed in the exclusive grouping that held Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth as the American bombardment to the British Metal invasion that was aiming their mighty guns at world domination. However as the band’s latest album VII: Sturm Und Drang clearly shows, the New Wave of American Heavy Metal and their acolytes have made it their business to keep the flag flying on a genre that has lost out heavily to the resurgence of the European, and in particular the Scandinavian element, in recent years.

The way that Lamb of God have kept their eye on the ever changing fortunes of the American end of the Metal market is a testament to their powerful and guiding sound is not only to be admired but heavily congratulated to the point where the only metal that can compete with them is likely to be the stalwarts of the genre, Megadeth, when they release their new album.

The sound of deployment, of the heavy artillery taking Sunday afternoon pot shots at a readymade crater is nothing to the tactical, continual, air strikes that cause the welcoming rebellion in the ears. The singled out drive, the pound of drums and the note of thunder being played out as if revolution had been stirred is more than enough to keep the other four major senses happy as the sense of sound is taken to the woodshed and shown how to enjoy the spanking it is about to receive.

VII: Sturm Und Drang reverberates as if the sound of the discharge of weapons is but a toy in child hands, for the true booming sensation and brick by brick demolition is fully employed in the hands of Lamb of God.

Tracks such as Erase This, Footprints, the brutal Engage The Fear Machine, the trepidation that comes with Delusion Pandemic and the wonderful bonus track Wine and Piss all come down heavy and with the force of an exploding sun somewhere in the galaxy and the after effects that rain down throughout the rest of the Universe. Such is the power utilised that the fallout is filled with rage and it is that rage, that consumer of compassion that gives VII: Sturm Und Drang its absolute appetite for destruction.

Vociferous in its goal, forceful in its delivery, VII: Sturm Und Drang is an absolute Metal pleasure to hear.

Ian D. Hall