On their sixth full-length (seven if you include the BURN THE PRIEST debut… man, guess we’ll always have to say that), metal titans LAMB OF GOD surprise a bit with the first track, ‘Straight For The Sun’, starting the album off with a slow CROWBAR-esque crawl; it’s a very heavy and very intense way to get things rolling. From there, it’s ‘Desolation’, which shows the faster side of the band’s power groove, a double-bass-led speedster that drops down to the half-time groove come pre-chorus, then back up to full tilt for anthemic chorus; no doubt this will be a popular one in the arenas. ‘Ghost Walking’ starts off with some fast-picking acoustic guitar, but rest assured, it only lasts a few seconds before kicking into another familiar LOG tune, great riffage, big groove, drum acrobatics, memorable chorus… VERY memorable chorus, once again cementing these guys as the PANTERA of today. ‘Guilty’ picks up the pace again after the relatively mid-paced ‘Ghost Walking’; the band always loses a bit of the punch when they go faster like this, but, again, check out that chorus, the excellent riff snaking its way into everyone’s head pretty quickly. ‘The Undertow’ comes and goes without leaving much impression, and marks that point in every LOG album where, great as it is, it becomes a bit same-y. That changes with ‘The Number Six’, which drops a melodic chorus and gang vocals (!), both of which works wonders to keep the listener’s attention. ‘Barbarosa’ is a quick little instrumental prelude thing, sure, nice melodies, it’s a keeper for a good mid-album respite. ‘Invictus’ kicks off the latter half of the album with a dark vibe, great riffs that border on punk and that inimitable vocal delivery. ‘Cheated’ gets even more dumbed down, simple and punk rock; it works as a good shot in the arm this late in the album. ‘Insurrection’ actually sounds like nothing the band has done before, mainly due to the clean (yet haggard) vocals. ‘Terminally Unique’ is perhaps the best example of the band delivering one of their big, epic, moody anthems, and it’s awesome. ‘To The End’ is another classic LOG sounding song; funny they back-loaded these big arena-ready songs and put the punkier ragers up earlier. ‘Visitation’, man, these LOG albums always go on for a song or two to long, and here’s where the exhaustion sets in… ‘King Me’ closes things off with some experimentation which just doesn’t work (spoken word, female operatic vocals, orchestral elements) but the jagged staccato riffing sure works. Pound for pound: a bit more tossed off, raw, punk-y, the huge chorus anthems still there but kinda hidden away. These LOG albums, they don’t surprise much, but they sure are good, all adding up to one amazing, era-defining body of work of kick-ass metal.