I haven’t really been on board with Lamb of God actively since As the Palaces Burn. I’ve kept up with them, but after a few spins (especially with their last two albums), I’ve been disinterested. The familiar Lamb of God sound is there, but the appeal isn’t. It’s not bad music, just sort of… existent. And for a band often hailed as one of the torchbearers of modern metal, that’s not enough. True, they aren’t the same scrappy bunch of Southern longhairs that made the weird, dark groove metal of New American Gospel – nor should they be — but for me, that didn’t excuse reasonably inoffensive metal on cruise control. But after a while, I recognized that it could simply be me and my relationship with LoG fandom, and chocked it up to a “no offense, but this isn’t for me anymore” frame of mind.

Regularly, here is where I would say, “But Lamb of God’s latest, Resolution, restores my faith in their ability to slay motherfuckers like a hybrid of Ted Bundy and Genghis Kahn,” or something less caffeinated and hackneyed. But I’m stopping short of that, because there’s still that slickness Lamb of God added around the time of Ashes of the Wake that doesn’t sit well with me. That being said, this is the first album where I feel like they’re comfortable in their role as a well-funded major label act. Sure, the production is slick, and there are a few bizarro-radio singles here, but more importantly, the music sticks while still being thoroughly Lamb of God. The songwriting may be a little more streamlined, but there’s also more underneath it than there had been as of late. Perhaps Resolution is not the bridge upon which old and new LoG fans can high-five eachother — if such a thing is even in the cards — but a little more of a warm welcome than I’ve come to expect from them.

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photos by Gabrielle Duplantier

November 12, 2011. I’m in Long Island City, heading towards Spin Recording Studios, where the mighty Gojira have recently begun recording their new album with producer Josh Wilbur. It’s a big deal because a) it’s Gojira’s first album in more than three years, b) the band has just announced that they’ve signed with Roadrunner Records, and c) Gojira fucking rules, and I’m a massive, massive fan.

I’m still a good block-and-a-half away when I hear it. It’s so incredibly LOUD and metallic, it almost sounds like machine gun fire — but it’s too rhythmic to be a weapon. I decide it must be a street performer, banging on some sheet metal or something… except that I can see the street all around me, and it’s completely deserted. If it is a street performer, he’s very well concealed, and is apparently playing to an audience of no one.

By the time I arrive at the front door of Spin Studios — a large, steel entrance — the sound has become deafening. And as I peek through the small, submarine-like door window, I finally see the source of the sound: it’s Gojira skinsman Mario Duplantier, drumming on the door like the thunder god that he is.

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[UPDATE, 9:48am EST, 11/8]: Spin Studios has removed the above post from their Facebook page, which would seem to confirm that they goofed by posting it.

Original post:

After reporting this morning that Gojira were in NYC recording a new album and then speculating about what record label was funding the effort, the same anonymous Internet sleuth that tipped us off to the location of the recording sessions (Spin Studios in Queens) noticed a post on the Spin Studios Facebook page confirming that Gojira have landed with Roadrunner. Check the screen cap above, which also tells us that Josh Wilbur (of Lamb of God’s Wrath fame) is producing, and not Greg Fidelman or Rick Rubin.

So, there you have it: Roadrunner. Gojira. Josh Wilbur. Early 2012?

-VN

At Relapse Records’ CMJ showcase last month, I had the privilege of briefly meeting Tony from Acrassicuada, a.k.a. “that band from Heavy Metal in Baghdad.” I introduced myself and told him I run a site called MetalSucks; to my incredible shock and joy, he knew what MetalSucks is. See, we’d sent the band a care package way back in 2007, which included some MetalSucks stickers; he told me that he’d kept one of those stickers on his guitar for some time. And while it’s entirely possible that he was just blowing smoke up I ass, I don’t think he was – I didn’t prompt him about the care package or anything, he just brought it up. So that was pretty awesome.

ANYWAY, after an incredible amount of struggle, the likes of which I can’t even imagine trying to overcome, Acrassicauda are here in the U.S. and, according to their MySpace page, are getting ready to release an EP:

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Wrath, Lamb of God’s highly anticipated new album, opens with a track entitled “The Passing,” which has to be one of the best soft intros ever not written by Metallica in the 80s, before exploding with a typically rockin’ riff on the first real song, “In Your Words.” It’s a rousing start, and one which might lead the listener to think that Wrath is gonna be another winner from one of the American New Wave’s most popular and widely adored bands.

And then something strange happens: you wait for a chorus that never really arrives.

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So you may have heard that Hatebreed have a live DVD, Live Dominance, coming out on September 2 (produced by that Josh Wilbur guy!), and they’re actually doing something pretty cool to promote it: between now and August 25, you can download four mp3s of songs performed on the DVD for free on the band’s website. Since the songs are four of Hatebreed’s catchiest – “This is Now,” “Destroy Everything,” “Live for This” and “I Will Be Heard” – that’s a pretty nifty deal. If you don’t download the four tracks for free before August 25, you can purchase ‘em on iTunes (as is so often the case with audio tracks from live DVDs these days).

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Just in time for Vince’s birthday on Valentine’s Day (which explains why he’s so darn sexy), Lamb of God will release a new album this February, according to a press release that just arrived here at the MetalSucks Mansion.

The band is working with producer Josh Wilbur (pictured above) this time.

Wait… who the fuck is Josh Wilbur?

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