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Lamb of God is a Grammy-nominated five-piece groove metal/Death Metal band from Richmond, Virginia, formerly known as Burn the Priest. They have sold over a million albums around the globe.

Biography

Lamb of God was formed 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. Spear 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, and 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 #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 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 also 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 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 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 alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Lordi.

Equipment

Mark Morton endorses Jackson Guitars, GHS Strings, Dunlop Electronics, and Rocktron Electronics. Will Adler endorses ESP guitars and GHS Strings.

Both Morton and Will use drop D tuning (D-A-D-G-B-E) primarily, and open D tuning (D-A-D-G-B-D) on certain songs. John Campbell also uses drop D tuning (D-A-D-G).

Discography

Studio albums

Cover	Title
File:Lamb of God - New American Gospel.jpg	New American Gospel Released: September 26, 2000 Chart Positions:- U.S. Sales: 150,000+ Label(s): Prosthetic Records Metal Blade Records (reissue) Singles: "Black Label"
File:Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn.jpg	As the Palaces Burn Released: May 6, 2003 Chart Positions:#11 (U.S. Top Heatseekers) U.S. Sales: 250,000+ Label(s): Prosthetic Records Singles: "Ruin", "11th Hour", "As the Palaces Burn"
	Ashes of the Wake Released: August 31, 2004 Chart Positions: #26 (U.S.) U.S. Sales: 400,000+ Label(s): Epic Records Singles: "Laid to Rest", "Now You've Got Something to Die For"
File:Lamb of God - Sacrament.jpg	Sacrament Released: August 22, 2006 Chart Positions: #8 (U.S.) U.S. Sales: 300,000+ Label(s): Epic Records Singles: "Redneck", "Walk with Me in Hell" This album sold more copies in the first week then any other metal band in 2006.

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 Sacrament, 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" (2000)
• "Ruin" (2003)
• "11th Hour" (2004)
• "As the Palaces Burn" (2004)
• "Laid to Rest (In Studio)" (2004)
• "Laid to Rest" (2004)
• "Now You've Got Something to Die For" (2005)
• "Redneck" (2006)
• "Redneck" (In Studio) (2006)

Members

Current members

• Randy Blythe - vocals (1995-present)
• Mark Morton - guitar (1990-present)
• Willie Adler - guitar (1999-present)
• John Campbell - bass guitar (1990-present)
• Chris Adler - drums (1990-present)

Previous members

• Abe Spear - guitar

Video game involvement

• "Laid to Rest" is featured in Guitar Hero II.
• "Black Label" is featured in Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
• Lamb of God's music can also be found in BaboViolent 2.
• "Redneck" is featured in ATV Offroad Fury 4.
• "Redneck" is also featured in NFL Street 3.

Wall of Death

The 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 and right sides of the floor area, and then on Blythe'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, 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

1. Biography on band's home page, www.lamb-of-god.com
2. 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
• Sample of Sacrament
• Interview with Lamb of God at Rockdetector
• Interview with Willie Adler, Great Falls Tribune, 2006-10-18

• American musical groups
• Groove metal musical groups
• Music of Richmond, Virginia
• Virginia heavy metal musical groups
• Musical groups with siblings