Lamb Of God

A cornerstone of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene, Richmond, Virginia’s Lamb of God built a reputation for an unyielding style that earned both critical admiration and strong record sales. Initially operating under the less conspicuous title Burn the Priest, the group blended metalcore, thrash, punk, sludge, and groove-laden death metal on their self-titled debut before adopting their current name in 1999 to prevent misidentification as a Satanic act. Over the ensuing years Lamb of God issued a succession of prominent studio albums, achieving notable commercial breakthroughs with gold-certified releases such as Ashes of the Wake and Sacrament. From 2000 through 2022 the band established a significant presence in the heavy-music landscape, moving millions of copies and securing repeated Grammy nominations while refusing to dilute their sound.

Fronted by vocalist Randy Blythe alongside guitarists Mark Morton and Will Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler, the newly named Lamb of God introduced themselves in 2000 via the widely praised New American Gospel. The quintet then spent the better part of the next two years on the road, delivering their “pure American death metal” to audiences at major festivals and intimate clubs alike.

Between those extensive tours, work on the follow-up took place with producer Devin Townsend, mastermind of Strapping Young Lad, resulting in the 2003 summer arrival of sophomore album As the Palaces Burn. Ashes of the Wake appeared the next year under the guidance of producer Machine and showcased the most polished material of the band’s career to date. The record achieved both chart success and critical acclaim, paving the way for an extended run of live dates; Epic also reissued the 1998 Burn the Priest debut during this period. The 2005 concert film Killadelphia captured an especially intense stretch of Philadelphia performances, with its audio counterpart surfacing later that same year. Sacrament arrived in 2006, entering the Billboard 200 at number eight and eventually earning gold status, while the aggressive 2008 successor Wrath reached number two.

Epic compiled the three-disc retrospective Hourglass: The Anthology in 2010, spanning the group’s independent and major-label eras along with a disc of rarities; the collection was offered either as three separate volumes or as a complete box set. After touring through 2010, the band regrouped in 2011 to record with producer Josh Wilbur, yielding their seventh album, Resolution, which topped the charts in 2012. That year also brought Blythe’s arrest in Czechoslovakia stemming from a 2010 Prague concert incident in which a fan climbed onstage, struck his head after being pushed by the singer, and later died from complications; Blythe remained jailed for more than a month before being acquitted of criminal responsibility and released on bail. He later chronicled the arrest, trial, and exoneration in the memoir Dark Days.

Following a period of relative quiet, the band returned in 2015 with its eighth studio album, VII: Sturm und Drang. The next year they issued the EP Duke, containing three live tracks and two new studio cuts; the title song paid tribute to devoted fan Wayne Ford, who had succumbed after a five-year struggle with leukemia. In 2017 Chris Adler suffered a motorcycle accident that sidelined him from touring. The following year the group revived the Burn the Priest name for the covers album Legion: XX, a high-energy survey of punk, hardcore, noise rock, and sludge metal favorites by acts including Bad Brains, Melvins, Ministry, Quicksand, and Big Black. Adler departed in 2019 and was replaced by Art Cruz, formerly of Winds of Plague and Prong; Cruz made his studio debut on the 2020 self-titled album Lamb of God, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 15 and reached number one on the Hard Rock Albums chart. A deluxe edition appeared in 2021, adding the previously unreleased track “Ghost Shaped People,” while Live in Richmond, VA documented the band’s first live-streamed performance from September 2020. The single “Nevermore” emerged in early 2022 and later featured on the ninth album, Omens, released that fall. Like its predecessor, Omens peaked at number 15 in the United States, charted internationally, and supported extensive touring alongside Pantera, Killswitch Engage, and other acts.