As the Palaces Burn Remastered

It's awesome how I got a hold of this album, my girlfriend gifted it to me, on our anniversary, from a place where this album is not even released!! Yea..I know, I am the lucky b*****d!!! Anyway, if you have been listening to Lamb of God for a while, you will know why I decided to write about this new album.


Lamb of God had released As the Palaces burn with Prosthetic Records in 2003. To be honest I knew nothing about the band back then. But I got to know about the band after attending one of their concerts in Bangalore, 2008. Thanks to Ashwin Bhat , Anoop Krishnan P and Izzy Naw, I was in love with the band and the fact will always remain that the first song I ever listened to, was "Ruin", from that album. 

Now that there's a remaster on the album released 2 days back, I was thinking 'what's new to listen here?' Frankly, I was skeptical when the project was announced. However, when I got the album, I decided to edge my audio senses with it. And guess what??!! Its amazing!!

I was talking to my girlfriend as to how songs like 'Ruin' and '11th Hour' can be the same song but sound better, you know what I mean? No? Okey.. Remember the guitar riff on “Ruin,” the one that is panned to the right, at 0:44? It now pans to the left. And the clipping at the end of the drum solo at 2:44 is gone, too. Not necessary changes, those, but interesting ones. The new mix makes “11th Hour” sound faster and livelier, freeing up Chris Adler’s drumming, especially the double bass, to shine during the song’s penultimate moments. 

As the Palaces Burn, in this remixed and remastered form, is the best version. It’s not the best just because it sounds clearer, but because it serves the songs better, and because it’s more honest to the band’s sound live. Give the new version a few listens, you'll know what I am talking about. This album is now the definitive As the Palaces Burn.