Congratulations Lamb of God!

First off I just wanted to say congrats to Lamb of God who landed at the number two spot on the Billboard Charts after selling around 68,000 copies of the new album "Wrath". That is their best debut to date! ("Sacrament" sold 63,000)

I finally got the physical CD this week and I will be posting a review of it soon on The Metal Review.

The main point I wanted to bring up though is that God Forbid's new album "Earthsblood" only sold 5,400 copies in its first week of release. And while they charted at number 110 on the Billboard Charts and number two on the Heatseeker's chart, they still deserve to sell even more.

I ordered my copy online right away after seeing this. I tried to order the new CD here in Iowa City, but no store got it in so I was sick of waiting, plus I wanted to support the band. It is a great CD! I will review that one too, as soon as it arrives in the mail.

The main point of all this is that metal is still alive and well in the music world, especially if a band such as Lamb of God can debut at number two on the Billboard Charts! Lets hope that the album will continue to sell will in the following weeks.

Mastodon and Lamb of God Marketing Blitz

It is cool to see that in the age of online music some bands are still trying to get us to remember why physical albums are that much cooler than their digital counterparts.

Mastodon announced that they would have a limited edition tunnel book release for Crack the Skye which comes out on March 24th.



The limited edition release is rather expensive at $39.99, but it may just be some of the coolest album art out there. I am sure some of the more loyal fans will want to get their hands on this one! It even puts bands like Tool to shame.

Mastodon also just launched a trippy Web site promoting Crack the Skye. It requires the latest version of Adobe Flash software. Here is a preview of what it looks like below.



Lamb of God is also doing a unique contest with their new album Wrath and are releasing a deluxe version of it as well (contains vinyl, CD, USB stick with bonus songs).

The first 100,000 people who purchase the CD, which is released tomorrow, will be able to enter a code at the Escape the Plague Web site. Upon entry of the code, fans will be asked to answer questions and will then be entered into a drawing for 100 different prizes.

As each prize is chosen it will be deleted until they are all gone. Here is a list of the prizes as seen on Lamb of God's Web site.

"Escape The Plague prizes include:

2 - Trips for two to see Lamb of God perform at a major UK festival in August

1 - Barbecue at your home hosted by Randy Blythe

2 - Mark Morton Guitars (Courtesy of Jackson guitars)

2 - Willie Adler Guitars (Courtesty of ESP Guitars)

2 - John Campbell Basses (Courtesy of Jackson Guitars)

1 - Chris Adler drum kit w/ an autographed Chris Adler snare (Courtesy of Mapex drums)

5 - Golden laminates, good for entry at any Lamb of God show for a year

10 - Introduce the band onstage in your town

20 - Roadie for a day in your town

7 - Sing on stage at soundcheck with the band

20 - $50 giftcards to the Lamb of God webstore (Courtesy of Bravado)

25 - Autographed super deluxe Wrath packages, including the CD, Vinyl, and UBS stick with bonus tracks

1 - Mark Morton guitar lesson

1 - Willie Adler guitar lesson

1 - John Campbell Bass lesson"

If only more bands would do stuff as cool as this maybe people would stop stealing so much music!

Lamb of God versus God Forbid: Tune-in February 24, 2009

It is almost the last week of February and in the first two months of 2009 there have already been some great metal releases.

Kreator- Hordes of Chaos and Cannibal Corpse- Evisceration Plague are bound to be contenders for at least one of the top five metal albums of 2009.

Saxon's Into the Labyrinth delivered the sound that listeners know and love, while incorporating some blues elements into the mix. I haven't had a chance to listen to the new Napalm Death album, but if grindcore is your thing, then look no further than Time Waits for No Slave.

The always underrated Derrick Greene-era Sepultura released A-lex, which I also have not been able to buy yet. From what I've listened to so far it isn't as good as Dante XXI (which was a great CD, one of Sep's best in my opinion), but it still sounds like it has enough elements to make it an interesting listen. And there is plenty to head-bang to.

Tuesday two of the newer generation of metal bands will be releasing CDs. Lamb of God's Wrath and God Forbid's Earthsblood both come out on February 24th. I should have both of the albums to play on the show then and I will try and get reviews posted over on the review blog ASAP.

Just to make it more interesting, I figure it will be a Lamb of God v. God Forbid sort of event. I will not only review the albums individually, but also I will end with a post comparing the two.

Lamb of God may be the popular favorite, but you can never count out the underdog hungry for the kill (God Forbid in this case)!

UPDATE: Felt like this post needed a video. Here is Lamb of God's video for a song that always makes me feel energized, Now You've Got Something to Die For!

Woo! Lamb of God is back!

In 2006 when Lamb of God released Sacrament via the major label Epic, people weren't exactly sure what to expect.

Would the band water down its sound or try something different?

From the first single, Redneck it appeared that the band was heading in a more lighthearted chart-friendly direction, but the rest of Sacrament was anything but.

Songs such as Pathetic and Foot to the Throat had a similar vibe to the songs off Ashes of the Wake, but everything was extremely polished. Almost a little too much so (notice the band got a new producer in place of Machine).

Experimental tracks such as Descending and Blackened the Cursed Sun were technically brilliant, but I just didn't feel they had that groove and in-your-face attack that the band is known for.

Today, Lamb of God released another track, Broken Hands from the album Wrath which is due out next Tuesday (February 24). Check out this track from another unlikely source SPIN.COM.

I don't know when Lamb of God became trendy enough to be featured in both the Associated Press and SPIN, but if stuff like this is getting the spotlight that is fine by me!

Broken Hands kicks in with the snarling voice of Randy Blythe and kicks in with a cool guitar lick that then transforms into a heavy grooving beat.

The songs Contractor, Set to Fail and Broken Hands all have had a more raw feel to them thanks to producer, Josh Wilbur. And it appears so far that Randy Blythe will is delivering the best vocal performance of his career.

Check it out for yourself! Between Kreator, Cannibal Corpse, Lamb of God and God Forbid we are going to have more awesome metal albums in the first two months of 2009 than we did all 2008!

UPDATE: NEW ALBUM WRATH NOW STREAMING ON MYSPACE IN ITS ENTIRETY

Oh and if you missed it, Lamb of God released a music video for the song Set to Fail. I originally posted it with the Kreator video, but I think it fits better on this post.

Nothing too fancy in the video, fans rocking out to the live band has been done many a time before, but still a good tune nonetheless!

Set To Fail

Lamb of God Contractor Widget

Lamb of God recently released the song Contractor to build hype for the new album Wrath which is due out in February.

This song sounds like it has a mix of everything from the band's past with a thrash feel.

Drummer Chris Adler had this to say:

"This album is going to surprise a lot of people. Typically bands that get to where we are in our career begin to slack off, smell the roses and regurgitate.

We chose a different path.

No one wants to hear another band member hyping a new record. 'Wrath' needs no hype. We have topped ourselves and on February 24 you will feel it."

My only complaint is where are the solos? But I imagine Willie and Mark will have that covered as well.

If this song is any indicator, Wrath is going to be better than Sacrament and may even be a candidate for album of the year in 2009.

Plus they brought back more of that groove seen on Ashes of the Wake so it sounds like they listened to me on that one!




Also you can download the song courtesy of metalsucks.net right here.