The 2015 studio album by American groove-metal monolith, LAMB OF GOD, had an intriguing title on multiple counts; first, the title, “VII: Sturm und Drang,” completely ignores the 1999 album released with a slightly different lineup and under the name BURN THE PRIEST, and still, this album is often considered as the band’s eighth full-length. Then, while referring to the late 18th-century artistic movement in Germany, the name of which translates as “Storm and Stress,” the album title was a thinly veiled reference to vocalist Randy Blythe‘s incarceration and trial in Prague on manslaughter charges, following the accidental death of a fan on stage in 2010. Released on July 24th, 2015, via the major label Epic in the United States and through Nuclear Blast elsewhere, the album soon proved to be one of the most alluring and cohesive efforts the band had released in years. Drawing from such extreme psychological stress and emotional storms, the album is substantially darker, yet more mature in tone. Thus, the album was generally greeted with rather favorable reviews – even Pitchfork gave it 7.5 out of 10, which was quite unusual, given their notoriously snobbish views on metal albums. These ten songs strike a good balance not only between beefy riffs and strong melodies but also between experimentation and the band’s old bag of tricks.
The first single, “Still Echoes,” opens the album with graphic imagery that drew inspiration from the real history of the Pankrác Prison, where Blythe was held in Prague while waiting for the trial. The music is right on par with the lyrics, offering such an intense riffage that the single must have had fans watering their mouths at the time in anticipation of the full album. Now, 10 years later, the song still slaps pretty damn hard. It was one of the first songs that I ever heard from this bunch, so I guess it was written in the stars that I would be converted to the parish of LoG fanboys. You can almost taste the faint sting of iron in your mouth when you listen to this banger.
The second single drew inspiration from this prison experience as well. The title, “512,” refers to the Pankrác Prison cell number 512, the grim basement dungeon where Blythe wrote the lyrics. The Czech prison system had faced a lot of criticism due to overcrowding and underfinancing, and the remand prisons, such as Pankrác, were particularly vulnerable to these shortcomings; the inmates held on remand faced a worse regime than those convicted because they were expected to be held only for a limited time. The claustrophobia and gloom are quite prominently present in the song and not merely in the lyrics. I think it was this song that became the ultimate nudge that pushed me off the proverbial cliff and right into the warm embrace of the band’s music. So, I was a bit late for the party, but as I’ve learned since, this album proved a turning point for quite a few metalheads that had somehow managed to miss this Virginia bunch thus far.
The rest of the themes on the album are no less emotionally charged, ranging from the topics of self-obsession to mass control through fear, and to loss in the family. to environmental degradation, and Internet culture. There’s a song about a notorious Nazi figure, as well, the Butcher of Prague, Reinhard Heydrich. No doubt, the Nazi history of the Pankrác Prison left an indelible mark on this album. Musically, the album introduced some novel elements into the band’s style palette, such as clean vocals and even ALICE IN CHAINS vibes in the somewhat grunge-tinted song, “Overlord.” As usual, some longtime fans found this sort of experimentation to be touch awkward, although the later LAMB OF GOD endeavors have aptly demonstrated that stark contrasts really do bring out the best of this band. Besides, more often than not, after reaching out from the band’s comfort zone, the riffs bounce right back into familiar territory, so the older fans shouldn’t have had anything to worry about.
Two songs feature a guest vocalist who further enriches the band’s signature sound. Chino Moreno of DEFTONES lends his signature touch to the panzerfaust riffer, “Embers,” and THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN frontman Greg Puciato appears on the closer, “Torches.” These drastically different vocal styles complement Blythe‘s scathed belting rather nicely, in my opinion, but not everyone saw it that way back in the day. Then again, I wasn’t familiar with the band’s older material, so I didn’t know what unholy tenets or past legacy the band should have adhered to with these songs. To my ears, these songs sounded just damn great 10 years ago – and they still do.
Overall, “VII: Sturm und Drag” proved such a solid selection of bangers that it was generally considered the best LAMB OF GOD endeavor since “Ashes of the Wake” from 2004. Furthermore, it cemented the band as the post-PANTERA torchbearers of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Still Echoes
- Erase This
- 512
- Embers
- Footprints
- Overlord
- Anthropoid
- Engage the Fear Machine
- Delusion Pandemic
- Torches
Lineup
Randy Blythe – vocals
Mark Morton – lead guitars
Willie Adler – rhythm guitars
John Campbell – bass
Chris Adler – drums
Label
Epic / Nuclear Blast
