Lambs are an Italian post-metal/sludge/hardcore band and this is their debut album.
It’s been a while since I last caught up with Lambs, but it seems that time has been good to them. They now operate in more atmospheric waters than they used to, despite a large portion of their sound still being fuelled by rage and hatred.
The music on Malice is filled with layered darkness, malignant atmosphere, and seething rage. Black metal and hardcore are both still a part of the Lambs sound, providing violence and aggressive substance to the band’s heavy presence. There’s an intensity of delivery here that’s undeniable, regardless of whether the band are playing blistering blast beats, atypical rhythms, or slow building heaviness, (or anything else). Raw savagery and measured post-metal introspection rub shoulders easily, with the latter frequently leading to the following, and vice versa.
The vocals sounds as if about a hundred different singers are involved, but as far as I know the band have only one lead vocalist. His performance twists and lacerates as he roars, screams, shrieks, bellows, and sings his way through the music.
Malice is an engaging and layered collection of tracks. At just over a half hour in duration it’s long enough to draw the listener into the vicious world of Lambs, but not so long as to wear the listener out through being battered and bruised too much, both physically and emotionally. Lambs have judged the length, quality, songwriting, and recording of their debut album very well. I suggest you check out Malice for yourself as soon as you can.
