Recently, while visiting upstairs at a neighbour's place, the host popped in a Lamb of God music video DVD. Sitting there with their little dog and cat, my neighbour's neice, his sister, and their friend, it occured to me that the end is neigh. Hopefully it was not a premonitory notion induced by my sconed-out state from all the paint fumes I've been inhaling at work over the past month and a half.
I didn't seem to mind it being on so much while the TV's volume was turned low, and could easily tune out the grinding metal madness while conversation could still take place at a reasonable level. Excuses to leave began running through my mind, however, the minute my host cranked up the level of these cringe inducing sound makers - these modern day demon-lords. But the footage held me fast as what it appeared I was witnessing in Lamb of God's live outdoor concert footage in England, was a glimpse of the preliminaries to the Apocalypse. What seemed a half a million people were pumping their fists to the infernal and (what seemed purposefully) unintelligible screaming of some writhing, facial contorting demon-man and his clockwork band of long bearded, zombiefied metalbillies. Their fans apparently like this and I couldn't help but be reminded of a certain J.W. religious pamphlet once presented to me on a Saturday morning. On the cover was an artist's conception of the end times. People in nice buttoning dress shits and slacks, pastel dresses and clean hair, lounged around in some oasis that was protected by an impenitrable dome that shielded them from the throngs of head and wristband wearing folks desperate to be included now that God's wrath was upon them.
Granted their playing is complex, precise, metronomic and from a technical point of view, I might even be inclined to congratulate them for being at the pinnacle of the genre and all, but really, they can't seem to help but thoroughly irritate me both sonically and visually. I could never willfully listen to them and I think that their sound could not be anything but the contrivance of some evil force personified. Bleachhh.
