Lamb of God: Into Oblivion
Lamb of God fans… rejoice! Their tenth album, Into Oblivion, has arrived and is about to rip your face off! Four years since their last release, ‘Omens’, this 10 track album will satisfy fans both old and new. As modern metal veterans alongside 90’s and 00’s bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot and System of a Down, this album is essential listening for any self-respecting metal fan.
For me, Lamb of God have been part of my metal journey for years. My first experience with them came through Metal Hammer magazine — a 2009 issue with a free CD that featured the song ‘Contractor’ introduced me to the band and blew my 14-year-old mind. I was already tentatively a metalhead, but that track was the heaviest thing I’d ever heard, sparking a lifelong love of all things metal. Seventeen years later, they still do not disappoint, delivering scorcher after scorcher.
Opening with the title track is a bold move, and ‘Into Oblivion’ couldn’t get any bolder if it punched you in the mouth. A blistering song about a world recovering from a pandemic that most people want to pretend never happened? A ferocious indictment of how those of us living in the West turn a blind eye as our governments obliterate entire cultures and countries? Or, perhaps closer to home, how many US citizens stick their heads in the sand as their neighbours are kidnapped in broad daylight? Vocalist Randy Blythe has often said he prefers to leave lyrics open to interpretation, and I can definitely come up with many, just for this song alone. The accompanying music video intersperses clips of the band playing with the narrative of the video – a young woman's apparent descent into madness as she is haunted by an evil mirror version of herself. Blythe doesn't hold back on why the band went with the title ‘Into Oblivion’, saying candidly: "Because that's where we're heading. In general, the album is about the ongoing and rapid breakdown of the social contract, particularly here in America. Things are acceptable now that would've horrified people just 20 years ago".
Listeners are launched into the next track with no time to catch their breath. ‘Parasocial Christ’ opens with Blythe’s distinctive vocals and Lamb of God’s crushing intensity, which only continues to build, with riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Pantera album. ‘Sepsis’ begins with a deep, groovy bassline that drives the song forward as Blythe growls over it. The pace picks up midway through, shifting from groove into thrash, and it might just be my favourite track on the album.
Blythe’s vocals move from almost crooning to deep growls and screams throughout the album, giving it that unmistakable Lamb of God flavour, his voice is like no one else’s in metal. ‘El Vacio’ briefly slows the pace but is no less heavy for it, a sleeping monster roused from its den to crush friend and foe alike before thrusting you into ‘St Catherine’s Wheel’. Beginning almost muffled, like hearing a song through the walls in a venue toilet, the track quickly slams into you like a truck, with the percussion in particular standing out. It’s the perfect blend of speed, precision and power you’d expect from a seasoned metal band, with plenty of cymbal chokes in all the right places.
If you’re an avid Lamb of God fan you’ve probably already heard ‘Blunt Force Blues’, the last teaser released before Into Oblivion is unleashed in its entirety. A track that pays homage to the bands they watched and played with in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia, it bludgeons listeners with that classic Lamb of God sound we’ve come to know and love, whilst simultaneously managing to feel very modern. With two decades of music-making under their belts it might be easy for the band to rest on their laurels, but this album cements them as not just legends in the metal scene, but as a contemporary force to be reckoned with.
‘Bully’ could apply to plenty of people in the public eye, but equally to someone you might know. Delivering catharsis through charged lyrics and a deliciously heavy soundscape, it’s another standout track for me. ‘A Thousand Years’ is another groove-driven cut, with Blythe’s near-whispers brushing your ears before breaking into his signature growls. Ending on a deliberate high, ‘Devise/Destroy’ leaves fans desperate for more, the album devoid of filler and full of fury.
Into Oblivion comes out on 13th March via Century Media and Epic Records. The band kick off a North American spring tour on 17th March and will also return for their annual Headbangers Boat cruise, sailing from Miami, Florida on Halloween. If a transatlantic trip is a bit much for EU and UK fans, the quintet are set to headline the Friday of Bloodstock Open Air Festival on 7th August 2026.