Lamb of God
“As the Palaces Burn” 10th Anniversary Edition
Razor and Tie
Tracks: 13
Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars
Originally released in May of 2003 Lamb of God’s “As the Palaces Burn” was the bands 3rd studio release. The album was widely received and is considered by many as one of the most influential, modern day metal records of our time. Produced by Strapping Young Lad/Devin Townsend Project mastermind Devin Townsend the album featured 10 aggressive and brutally honest tracks which conveyed the bands feelings during a very turbulent time in America. The 10th Anniversary edition of “As the Palaces Burn” is being released via Razor and Tie Record and features re-mixed/mastered versions of the original 10 tracks included on the album along with three previously unreleased demo versions of “Ruin”, “As the Palaces Burn” and Blood Junkie”. Accompanying the CD is a DVD featuring a newly filmed “Making of” documentary along with interviews and commentary from those involved with the album.
When an album is re-released I generally don’t take much notice as if it was something I was interested in initially I would have checked out the original version of whatever album it maybe. However I have bought a couple in my day only to be relatively disappointed. Sadly that is exactly the same feeling I had after listening to the anniversary edition of “As The Palaces Burn”. Don’t get me wrong the new mixes are certainly better than the original versions as these re-workings offered a quite a bit more clarity and bottom end but, that was not enough to really warrant buying a second copy of the album. The additional tracks were exactly as advertised “demos” as they sounded as if they were recorded on a boom box in some ones basement. This release wasn’t all misses though as the real gem came in the way of the included bonus DVD. Some great interviews are included on here as well as an hour long documentary about the making of the album. I found these alone were enough to make up for any noted short comings.
Hardcore Lamb of God fans will certainly want to check this out merely for the bonus DVD content however if you have the original version and are content with that then I would say this new release is a necessity. However if your original copy was lost or suffered the fate of being scratched as it slid around on the floor of your Dodge Daytona then the “As the Palaces Burn” 10th Anniversary Edition is a suitable replacement.
Track Listing:
1. Ruin
2. As the Palaces Burn
3. Purified
4. 11th Hour
5. For Your Malice
6. Boot Scraper
7. A Devil in God’s Country
8. In Defense of Our Good Name
9. Blood Junkie
10. Vigil
11. Ruin (previously unreleased demo)
12. As the Palaces Burn (previously unreleased demo)
13. Blood Junkie (previously unreleased demo)