Though the Lamb of God discography is full of fan favorites, 2004’s Ashes of the Wake just hits different.
While the quintet had certainly made a name for themselves through the viciousness of 2000’s New American Gospel and 2003’s As the Palaces Burn — or their devastating death-thrash proto-LOG debut as Burn the Priest, for that matter — Ashes of the Wake, their first for major label Epic Records, is arguably the album that fully burned the band into our collective memory forever.
From pinched-and-pounded groove anthems, to politically-powered anti-war treatises, to an instrumental shredfest co-signed and co-performed by members of Testament and Megadeth, Ashes of the Wake is an awesomely incendiary classic. But what track rises above the rest like a mighty phoenix?
We asked Revolver readers to pick their fave, and these are the top five you pulled from the Ashes.
“Now You’ve Got Something to Die For”
While there’s long-legged menace looming in the lank, spider-y chromaticism guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler bring to “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For,” its vocalist Randy Blythe that really sends a chill down your spine on this one. The song’s a bitter assessment of early ‘00s geo-politicking that tackles the hypocrisy of war (“bombs to set people free”), while hinting how many U.S. soldiers were probably going to come back home from the War on Terror in a flag-cloaked casket, all in the name of fighting for peace. Its chorus may be the most darkly sarcastic moment of the whole LOG catalog.
4. “Laid to Rest”
Despite Lamb of God’s attempts to tame the “Wall of Death” insanity of their mosh pits around the Ashes era — as their audiences got bigger and bigger, the unpredicable slam-sesh started getting a little too out of control — there are few metal album-openers of the ‘00s that have us gassed-up like this absolutely massive crowd-killer.
Mark Morton has gone on record several times noting he nicked more than a bit of influence from Testament’s “Into the Pit” for the intro section of “Laid to Rest,” but see who gives a fuck once LOG drop into this live. The rest of the tune’s chug-and-squeal intensity is career-defining heaviness, making this a signature slam-about for the band to this day.
3. “Omerta”
No code of silence needed here — you all love Lamb of God’s mafioso-themed metal anthem. And for good reason.
The slow-squealed lead riff sets a menacing pace for the piece; there’s an ominous spaciousness to the chord flow of the chorus, too. But a close-quarters paranoia seeps into the more manically thwacked back-section. Then there’s the threatening way Blythe’s all-wretch vocal performance lays out the tenets and honor-bound bloodshed of Omerta.
A classy, if sinister-sounding metal anthem about snitches getting stitches. You’re bound to see some evil in the criminal underworld… but don’t you dare speak of it.
2. “Hourglass”
Though not Ashes’ title track — that honor going to the record’s epically shredded thrash-strumental — “Hourglass” is the spiritual anchor to Lamb of God’s third full-length release.
The anti-war banger — again, one of many on the LP — is, after all, where Blythe literally screams the album title at the top of his lungs, the singer exasperatedly contemplating what’ll become of this world once the bombs start flying. His harrowingly howled refrain of “It’s only gotten worse” is tragically an evergreen statement through these conflict-riddled times. This song, though? Its precision-fracked attack has aged like a fine wine over the years.
1. “The Faded Line”
Like “Hourglass” before it, there’s an un-capitulated bleakness bleeding through “The Faded Line” — no joke, the back half of the song basically finds Blythe screaming about the world forever stagnating in a “hopeless” state.
Many, however, would point to music as a way to work through the darkest of times. And while a bilious worldview no doubt enshrouds this Lamb of God classic, it’s hard not to also hear a band successfully kicking against the wind with their masterful metal assault. The backend mosh monstrosity alone refuses to fade from our memories — much like the rest of Ashes of the Wake.