The madmen from Virginia are back. Has it already been ten years since this band released their first album? Lamb Of God shows on their latest realease that they are still going strong, but seem to be less wrathful than usual, despite the album title. I had read that the guys wanted to create something heavier and more aggressive for the follow up to 2006's Sacrament. This really got me interested as a long time listener since I really enjoyed their earlier, extremely angry material. That's not to say I did not fully enjoy the more melodic approach on Sacrament; far from it. It was probably one of my favorite albums of 2006. Well that's enough rambling, on to the music.

Intro track The Passing starts out with some nice melodic guitar work that starts to actually get me interested in the music. Then In Your Words comes in with some quick guitar work and the always top-notch drumming of Chris Adler. The song breaks into a more melodic sound for the verse, sounding just a little more raw and aggressive than Sacrament. The vocals also sound a bit rougher than they did on the previous album, but it doesn't really add much to the overall feel of the song. I don't hear as much of the anger and aggression that I expected. The first track as a whole is also slower than much of their past work. It is still a pretty good song, just not what I expected. I'm also noticing a little less melody, but this isn't necessarily a good thing.

The next song, Set To Fail, speeds things up with very fast tempo drums and guitars, the bass also smashing everything in its path. Vocalist Randy Blythe also throws some higher pitched, screamed vocals into the mix. It's a decent, catchy song, but it does get a bit monotonous for me. Fake Messiah is another song in which the lyrics and vocals sound far too repetitive and the guitar work is far less than what I've come to expect from these guys. It strangely sounds like filler to me. However, the second half of the album is where the band starts to get it together. The next song, Grace, starts out very soft, melodic and interesting, exploding into a melee of guitar driven anger. This song is catchy and easy to get into, much like something off of Sacrament, but with some added aggression. The guitar work isn't very complex, but it gets the job done. Chris Adler's drumming is also excellent as usual. The next song, Broken Hands, is also extremely heavy and catchy, with the melodic elements still present but a bit more subdued in favor of a more violent approach. Choke Sermon is another one of my favorite songs from the album, it is short, fast, angry, and doesn't leave you with a sense of missing something. The vocals in this song, unlike many others on this album, are very aggressive, yet understandable. Blythe does use a rougher, more guttural approach on this album, but unfortunately it only makes the lyrics indistinguishable and doesn't add a whole lot more aggression to the album, which I am assuming was the idea. Now I'll be honest here, I like his voice for the most part. I do not think he has any reason to prove how angry or raw he can sound. He has the ability to sound aggressive yet still be understandable. I realize that some people don't like the way his voice sounds, but it would be absurd to say that this man has no vocal talent. And if you've ever seen Lamb Of God play live you know he is an excellent metal frontman.

With all that being said, the sound of this album really came as a bit of a surprise for me. After hearing from the band that they wanted a more raw and aggressive sound for this album, but also to keep it fresh and interesting, I would say they have only partially succeeded. Wrath sounds to me like band that wants to be aggressive yet still melodic, something Lamb Of God are very capable of, but I think they tend to overdo the aggression at times. They certainly keep their sound varied on this album, but it just does not flow together like some of their other work. Overall this is still a good album with some really great songs on it, but I think it could have benefited from more structure.