Album Details

• Artist: Lamb Of God
• Album: Sacrament
• Label: Epic
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: sinist3r-punk on 2011-03-13

I hate to say this, but Sacrament does not feel like a Lamb of God album. So much of their classic sound has been put through the wringer and been made to sound generic and marketable. There are glimpses of brilliance here, but every time something builds up, it becomes buried under typical metal malarkey. I hate to criticize Lamb of God so harshly, but this album strays too far from the formula that made the band what they are now. If this was an album made by anyone else I would be much, much nicer. Another gripe I have to indulge is the production of Sacrament. It just sounds too polished and clean. Albums like New American Gospel are revered for not only their head-banging fury of excellent music, but the sound of everything being left in the recording studio. The more I listen, the bigger the contrast is between albums. In 6 years the only thing that has changed is the record label, so I'll blame them.

As much as I've complained, Sacrament is a solid album, as long as you forget that this is a Lamb of God release. Tracks like "Descending" and "More Time to Kill" are tremendous fun, but they don't hold up when compared to the early LoG classics. Only the most open-minded and strongest fans should attempt to give this a listen. For those of you that have never heard of Lamb of God, please do me a favor and listen to previous albums before listening to Sacrament. It's not the worst album in the world, but it could very well spoil Lamb of God for you if you're not careful.

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2008-08-09 Sinist3r Punk Said:

I really dont see what the big problem is with this album. Sure it doesnt sound just like the last two albums, but it is beyond a good thing. I believe that this album got Chris Adler the Drum Performance of the Year in the zine Modern Drummer and has a newly released live dvd (Walk With Me In Hell) that follows the Sacrament Tour in support of the album. Basically the WHOLE album is worth listening to, just because of the raw power that is displayed throughout every track. Without a doubt this album solidifies Lamb of God as true metal gods that have set the standard for metal bands for decades to come. Now with a 6th album in the making who knows which direction the band will go, but one thing is for sure. Sacrament will be the set standard that Lamb of God will try to out do.
Rating: 10/10

Review:

on 2007-07-22 SolitaryMan Said:

I agree with Jacky's 4-star ranking and much of what was said in his (or her...not sure!) review. This IS LoG's defining album and it's a pretty horrid album, not only because they released it once previously as "Ashes Of The Wake", but because of the added level of Pantera/southern metal love that just intrudes on the band's original, no-frills-all-thrills style. I suppose you can say Lamb of God have just pushed their sound too far over the barrier between metal and metalcore, so much so that any self-respecting metal fan probably will find too much fault to enjoy some of the album's finer moments. That's my problem with Sacrament, at any rate. I'm sure this album has plenty of fans, but I don't know how anyone could say "I want to hear some Lamb Of God" and not put in "As The Palaces Burn".
Rating: 4/10

Review:

on 2007-07-22 JackyJawless Said:

Following the rather weak Ashes of the Wake, this would be the album that would define what exactly this band is made of; It would either enforce the fact that Lamb of God were stunning on their two first LP's, or that their third was no mistake, and that after a decent run, they were going to be thrown into ever-growing heap of metalcore shit. Sacrament confirmed the latter.



While recording an album is not always necessarily about doing something new and creative, if you're going to take an established style that's already been done to death, you'd better do it well. And Lamb of God borrowed too much of the wrong stuff. Everyone already knew that the guitarsist were huge Pantera fans, and that's cool because it's just really, really hard to find a band in metalcore who don't take anything from Dimebag, but when Randy Blythe decided to try being Phil Anselmo on "Redneck", I lost faith in this band. This album would have gotten five, maybe six stars for me, because it generally isn't all THAT bad. Rather, it's mediocre. But "Redneck" just ruined this album for me, and I just can't get past it
Rating: 4/10