Resolution

Lamb of God’s seventh studio album opens with “Straight for the Sun,” wasting no time in cutting to the core of sludgy brutality. With an immediate onslaught of titanic doom riffs and an earthshaking rhythm section rumbling over Randy Blythe’s guttural howls, it shows why Lamb of God remains at the forefront of the New Wave of American Metal. The following “Desolation” hammers out a muscled groove under winding guitars, as Blythe’s feral shrieks morph into throat-grating bellows. Fans of Mark Morton’s seizure-inducing solos will revel in the ferocious attack of “The Undertow,” a standout boasting some of his best shredding to date. “The Number Six” flirts with accessibility in the chorus, where Blythe hints at singing an actual melody. Yet “Ghost Walking” is the approachable single, with its doubled harmonic guitar leads, sucker-punch changes, and Blythe’s sublime nods to Pantera’s Phil Anselmo. At six minutes and 36 seconds, “King Me” hints at journeying into prog-metal’s treacherous territory, replete with complex mathematical arrangements and a backing orchestra.