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Lamb of God is a Grammy-nominated five-piece groove metal/metalcore band from Richmond, Virginia, formerly known as Burn the Priest. They have sold over a million albums.
Biography
The roots of Lamb of God were planted in 1990 when Mark Morton, Chris Adler and John Campbell were floor mates at Virginia Commonwealth University. After graduation, Morton moved to Chicago to pursue a master's degree, but the band continued. A new guitarist, Abe Spear, was found. Randy Blythe was added on vocals when the band decided to move past its instrumental sound. At this point in their career, they were known as Burn the Priest. Morton re-joined the group and Burn the Priest released a self-titled full length album soon after. Abe left the band in 1999 after admitting himself to a rehabilitation center outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. This opened a place for Chris Adler's brother, Willie Adler. A year after the second Adler joined, the band changed its name to Lamb of God, after which it signed a record deal with Prosthetic Records.
Their lyrical themes tend to cover religion, society, pain, misery, politics, heresy as well as other often personal topics.
We play music that straddles the line between prog and traditional rock. I think we make prog-rock more listenable without cheapening the progressiveness of it. The complexity of our music appeals to people who like technical playing, but the arrangements are not so extreme that they fly over the average listener's head. It's a good balance.
— John Campbell, Lamb of God Biography
After two well received releases and a DVD (Terror and Hubris) on Prosthetic Records, the band signed a new recording contract with Epic Records in late 2003. Their first release for the label, "Ashes Of The Wake", debuted at No.27 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and has sold over 250,500 copies in the U.S. to date .
On August 29 2005, the band announced that their DVD, "Killadelphia", which chronicles the band on tour supporting their album "Ashes of the Wake", had received Gold certification from the RIAA. The DVD features a complete live performance at the Trocadero in October 2004 in Philadelphia, and also contains three of their music videos, commentary by the band, outtakes, soundchecks, and plenty of backstage shenanigans.
On January 25 2006, a press release announced the re-release of Lamb of God's debut album, New American Gospel. The original, along with the self titled debut Burn the Priest, were both produced by Steve Austin, known for his work with Today Is the Day, Converge and Unsane. The re-release will be remastered and repackaged with four new tracks, exclusive liner notes from the band and a re-imaging of the album art by longtime band collaborator Ken Adams. The album was re-released on April 4 2006.
Their newest album Sacrament met with immediate success, debuting at #8 on the U.S. Billboard charts.
The same day "Sacrament" was released, the band's fan club The Congregation was launched.
Before the release of Sacrament, the band took part in the 2006 The Unholy Alliance tour in North America with Slayer, Mastodon, Children of Bodom and Thine Eyes Bleed, and in Europe with In Flames instead of Mastodon. After Sacrament was released, they joined onto the North American portion of Gigantour, headlined by Megadeth and including Arch Enemy, Opeth and Overkill. They were touring Europe.
They have toured with Trivium, Machine Head and Gojira.
Lamb of God has been nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" for the song "Redneck" from the album "Sacrament" in 2006 for the 49th annual Grammy Awards.
On February 9, 2007 Lamb of God made their national television debut on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. They played Pathetic from their album Sacrament.
On February 29th the band was confirmed to play the UK's Download Festival 2007. The band is also confirmed as one of the headlining acts in this year's Ozzfest tour.
Instruments
Randy Blythe Uses:
- Sennheiser microphones
Chris Adler Uses:
- Mapex Pro Saturn Series Drums
- Mapex 13 inch Black Panther Birdseye-mapel snare
- Meinl Percussion Cymbals w/ Signature MB20 Ride w/ Paiste 14 inch Flanger bell
- Pro-Mark TX5AX Drum Sticks
- Gibraltar Drum Hardware
- Aquarian Drumheads
- Axis Pedals
Mark Morton Uses:
- Jackson Mark Morton Dominion w/ Seymour Duncan '59s Tobbaco
- Jackson Mark Morton Dominion w/ Seymour Duncan '59s Wine Drunk
- Gibson Les Paul Standard Gold
- GHS Boomer Strings 10-52
- Mesa Mark IV amplifier head w/ 9 Mesa 4x12 cab (2 of them work, the other seven are for show)
- Sennheiser wireless system
- Rocktron Wah Pedal
- Dunlop Crybaby Wah Pedal
Mark Morton endorses Jackson Guitars, GHS Strings, Dunlop Electronics & Rocktron Electronics
Will Adler Uses:
- ESP Will Alder Signature Model
- ESP Eclipse Quilt Blue w/ gold edging
- ESP Eclipse Quilt Red w/ gold edging
- ESP Eclipse Will Adler Signature Eclipse(Camoflague)
- ESP-LTD EX-400BD
- GHS Boomer Strings 10-52
- Mesa Mark IV amplifer head w/ Framus 4x12 cabs
- Sennheiser wireless system
Will Adler endorses ESP guitars and GHS Strings.
Both Mark Morton & Will Adler use Drop D (D-A-D-G-B-E) tuning primarily, and Open D (D-A-D-G-B-D) tuning on certain songs.
John Campbell Uses:
- Peavey Millennium 4 Bass
- Jackson C20 Concert Basses(Yellow)
- Dean Markley Bass strings
- Mesa 400+ watt tube bass amplifier w/ two Mesa Roadready 8x10 cabs
- Sennheiser wireless system
- Tech 21 Sans Amp Bass Driver DI
- DBX 266XL Compressor/Gate
John Campbell uses Drop-D (D-A-D-G) Tuning.
Discography
Studio albums
| Album Cover | Album Title |
New American Gospel
| |
As the Palaces Burn
| |
 |
Ashes of the Wake
|
Sacrament
|
Other releases
- Pure American Metal (EP, 2004) Released August 2004. This disc was included as a promotional recording with pre-ordered copies of Ashes of the Wake. It featured a pre-production recording of Laid To Rest and a live recording of Black Label from the Hellfest 2003 DVD.
- Walk With Me In Hell (EP, 2006) Released August 8, 2006. This disc was exclusive to Hot Topic. It featured Walk With Me In Hell from the Sacrament album, and also the video and making-of footage for Redneck.
Live albums
- Killadelphia (2005)
Videography
- Terror and Hubris (2003)
- Killadelphia (2005)
- The Making of Sacrament (2006, Bundled with Sacrament)
Music Videos
- Black Label (Music video, 2000)
- Ruin (Music video, 2003)
- 11th Hour (Music video, 2004)
- As the Palaces Burn (Music video, 2004)
- Laid to Rest (In Studio) (Music video, 2004)
- Laid to Rest (Music video, 2004)
- Now You've Got Something To Die For (Music video, 2005)
- Redneck (Music video, 2006)
- Redneck (In Studio) (Music video, 2006)
Members
- Randy Blythe - Vocals (1995-Present)
- Mark Morton - Guitar (1990-Present)
- Willie Adler - Guitar (1999-Present)
- John Campbell - Bass (1990-Present)
- Chris Adler - Drums (1990-Present)
Video Game Involvement
- Lamb of God's song "Laid to Rest" is featured in Guitar Hero II.
- Lamb of God's song "Black Label" is featured in Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
- Lamb of God's music can also be found in BaboViolent 2.
Wall of Death
Main article: Wall of DeathThe wall of death occurs at the beginning of the song "Black Label," usually the last song in the set. The crowd divides to the left & right sides of the floor area, and then on Randy's direction, run wildly towards the other side. This is much more intense than circle pits which are also seen at Lamb of God concerts.
Due to concert-goers getting hurt, and the threat of many lawsuits, Randy Blythe no longer orchestrates the wall of death during "Black Label." But the fans still sometimes do it without being asked to.
Two quicktime videos (6-8mb in size) document the wall of death on the video page of the official Lamb of God website, found here.
References
- http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=59
- http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=59
- http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=59
- Biography on band's home page, www.lamb-of-god.com
- Artist Bio on Sony BMG, ret. 02/28/07
External links
- Official website
- The Congregation - Official fansite
- Pure American Metal Forums
- Lamb of God at MySpace
- Lamb of God at Sony Music
- Lamb of God at Sputnikmusic
- Lamb of God at Encyclopaedia Metallum
- Burn the Priest at Encyclopaedia Metallum
- Sample of August 2006 album, 'Sacrament'
- Interview with Lamb Of God, Rock Detector
- Interview with Willie Adler, Great Falls Tribune, 2006-10-18
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