Lamb of God

Lamb of God is a metal band from the US, one of the brightest representatives of so-called New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Initially the band was named Burn The Priest, but the musicians changed the name in 1998, after the release of their debut album. The story of Lamb of God began in 1990, when Chris Adler, Mark Morton, John Campbell and Randy Blythe met in Virginia Commonwealth University. The band Burn The Priest started to rehearse at Chris’ house. It is worth mentioning that the conditions were quite rough: there were no heating. However, in spite of all the difficulties, Burn the Priest created several records. In 1999 Willie Adler joined the group and later the musicians decided to change the name of their band. The reason was very simple: owners of the clubs, where the gigs took place, considered the name of the band to be evil, and refused to invite them to perform.

Lamb of God’s second album, recorded with the second guitarist was released in 2000. The record New American Gospel became the first studio work since the band’s name was changed. New American Gospel got fair reviews and attracted deserved attention. After that release Lamb of God started the tour and performed on the stage with such famous bands as Cannibal Corpse, Mushroomhead, Six Feet Under and Killswitch Engage. Two years after New American Gospel release that record was included into the list of the greatest metal albums of all times by the Revolver magazine.

In 2003 Lamb of God issued their new studio album As the Places Burn. The record turned out to be strong and many music magazines entitled it the best album of the year. After the recording of As the Places Burn was completed, Lamb of God went on touring again. They performed at Headbangers Ball Tour, where they recorded the material for their DVD Terror and Hubris, which was released in 2004. Since the tour was finished, the band started working on a new studio attempt. Thus, in 2004 Lamb of God’s discography was enlarged with the new album titled Ashes of the Wake. Traditionally powerful sound was not left without any attention: Guitar World magazine placed Ashes of the Wake on the 49th place in the list of the Greatest guitar albums of all times. In 2006 the musicians released the album Sacrament. That record received fair reviews and soon Lamb of God were touring again. Together with Slayer, Mastodon and Children of Bodom they took part in several major festivals, including The Unholy Alliance. In 2007 the band’s composition Redneck was nominated for the Grammy award in the category Best Metal Performance. The musicians were not wasting time: in 2008 they started creating the material for their new record. However they found the time in order to perform with legendary Metallica. In 2009 Lamb of God released their fifth studio album titled Wrath. The lyrics is traditionally elaborate and deep: Randy discussed the themes of self-destruction and the future of the mankind.

In 2010 Lamb of God made a present for their fans by releasing a wonderful record Hourglass: The Anthology. It includes three CDs with the songs from different stages of the band’s creativity. There is no doubt that this anthology will be enjoyed by the old fans and of course it will be interesting for those who are not familiar with music of Lamb of God.