Harmony in wrath

Lamb of God's vision for Wrath: 'to write a pissed-off, aggressive record'. Photo / Supplied

If Chris Adler had stuck with his previous job as a computer network engineer he would be doing well, thank you very much. But in 2004 he quit his well-paid career to drum and write songs for American metallers Lamb of God - a band he had been in with a few of his mates since 1994.

The band were on tour for their soon-to-be classic album, Ashes of the Wake and they had progressed to the stage where they could tour without losing money. Playing fulltime and giving up a nice salary was a big move for Adler, it couldn't have come at a better time for the other band members who were working in bars, "in gutters or on roofs" as well as playing music.

"No one's shown up on my doorstep with a big bag of money yet. We're still working hand-to-mouth but I would have regretted it if I hadn't have done it," says Adler on the phone from Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Lamb of God are on a world tour for latest album, Wrath. The tour brings them back to New Zealand for a show at the Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday.

"I'm more than happy with where we are. In fact, I'm surprised as hell we got to where we are," he continues, sounding chuffed.

Since Ashes, Lamb of God have been on the rise and, with the more melodic and commercial approach of 2006's Sacrament, they reached a wider fan base outside of extreme metal circles.

However, Adler says that on Sacrament, after 13 years of being a band, they had the luxury of time and money to make the album they wanted and made the mistake of polishing it to perfection.

"There are great things on it, and that album probably did more for our career than any other, but we lost a lot of the life and the power in those songs. I never aspired to be a massively successful heavy metal band, it's always been about writing incredibly aggressive and powerful songs."

So on Wrath - one of the best metal albums of the year and the best of the band's career, - they dispensed with mainstream niceties and have come up with a brutal and blistering onslaught. It makes Sacrament sound like, well, Nickelback.

"After Sacrament I think a lot of people expected us to go for that cash grab. But we decided to go in there and go nuts and write the crazy speed metal record that we wanted to write the whole time."

They did away with the soaring singing, and roughneck screamer Randy Blythe stuck exclusively to roaring and barking, and a song like In Your Words is among the most heavy and harrowing they've come up with thanks to a machine-like might going head-to-head with a relentless groove.

Elsewhere, Fake Messiah festers and seethes and Contractor brings together threads of progressive metal, raging punk rock and beefy hillbilly metal.

Considering Wrath is the most rugged Lamb of God album, Adler says the recording sessions were the most harmonious the band has had.

"Before, everyone used to pull in different directions. I wanted it to be fast, Willie [his younger brother] wanted it to be progressive, Mark was hoping for a [chart] single, Randy wanted to be the punk rock guy, but I think this time we all had a very similar vision: to write a pissed-off, aggressive record.

"But I also think the people in this band are very different people personality-wise; and I think that's what helps make us stand out a little, that we're not just a copy of this band or that band, we're all pushing for different things."

Despite being in their mid-to-late-30s, Lamb Of God are still known as the "drunk party guys" when they're out on tour, but it never gets in the way of the music. 'The music is our lifestyle. It's in our blood and we couldn't do anything else if we tried."

Lowdown

Who: Lamb of God
Where & when: Auckland Town Hall, Wednesday December 9
Latest album: Wrath, out now
See also: Ashes of the Wake (2004)