|
RockinTrivia Test your knowledge |
RockinForum Add your comments |
|
|||||||||||
| |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Lamb Of God
While attending Richmond's Virginia Commonwealth University, guitarist Mark Morton, bassist John Campbell and drummer Chris Adler started Burn The Priest.
Morton soon left to work on his Masters degree. Adler and Campbell pressed on filling the guitar slot and adding vocalist Randy Blythe. Some demos rolled out in '95 but the big news came two years later with the return of Morton. The next year Adler's brother, Willie, joined becoming the second guitarist. This line-up recorded the band's self-titled '99 debut for Legion Records.
Unfortunately, several promoters banned the group because they thought Burn The Priest was an "evil" or even satanic name. So they became Lamb Of God.
Next up was '00's "New American Gospel," followed three years later by "As The Palaces Burn," both issued on the Prosthetic label. Compared to Pantera and Slipknot, Lamb Of God played the second stage during '04's Ozzfest. That same year, "Ashes Of The Wake," landed (on the Epic imprint). Falling out of the supporting tour, Lamb Of God issued the live CD/DVD "Killadelphia" which went platinum.
Continuing on a roll, Lamb Of God released their fifth studio effort, "Sacrament," in '05. The album cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. As a result, the group moved to the Ozzfest main stage and was nominated for "Best Metal Performance for "Redneck" but lost the Grammy award to Slayer ("Eyes Of The Insane").
Filmed during the Sacrament World Tour, Lamb Of God released "Walk With Me In Hell" DVD. The '08 double disc had over four hours of footage
Striking an international deal with Roadrunner, while remaining with Epic in the U.S., Lamb Of God released "Wrath" in '09. "This album is going to surprise a lot of people," said Chris Adler. "Typically bands that get to where we are in our career begin to slack off, smell the roses and regurgitate. We chose a different path. No one wants to hear another band member hyping a new record. 'Wrath' needs no hype. We have topped ourselves."
Between The Buried And Me guitarist Paul Waggoner filled in for Morton on the final stops of '10 Mayhem Festival because Morton had to "had to go home and take care of some business." Later in the year, Lamb Of God made their third appearance at the Download Festival.
Once again, Lamb Of God was nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy. This time they lost to Judas Priest. But the single "Hit The Wall" landed in the Iron Man 2 video game before the group left to supported Metallica on the latter's Australian tour.
"Resolution," Lamb Of God's seventh studio effort (if you count "Burn The Priest"), dropped in '12. "{It's} unlike any other album before," stated Morton. "This album was written over the course of a couple of years, at least with the guitars. Willie and I starting songwriting as soon as we started touring 'Wrath'."
Produced by Josh Wilbur (Limp Bizkit, Hatebreed, Black Tide), "Resolution" featured the song "Ghost Walking," and included a bonus live CD, featuring tracks recorded during the band's '09 -'10 world tour.
1999 Burn The Priest
2000 New American Gospel
2003 As The Palaces Burn
2004 Ashes Of The Wake
2006 Sacrament
2009 Wrath
2012 Resolution
Nu Metal, Metalcore, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal and even Death Metal - Lamb Of God has been called them all. But essentially they are a churn and burn/riff and rant band.
Early material can be unfocused as Lamb Of God tries to cover too much ground. But even among the Prog leanings and questionable stabs at drama there are killer tracks. From "New American Gospel," "The Black Dehlia" clearly shows the group's strengths as they take a well-written song and brutalize it. By the time they recorded "As The Palaces Burn" everything was just about dialed in. Check out "For Your Malice," "In Defense Of Our Good Name" and the slower set-closer, "Vigil."
On "Sacrament" the attack (and that's exactly what they do) is honed. "Walk With Me In Hell" and "Redneck" got a lot of worthy attention but the rest of the set is in the same vein and just as unrelenting.
The most creative element regarding Lamb Of God's recent albums is not so much the music but how band members attempt to position each set as a change or major development, when in fact, they are pretty much delivering the same experience. Alder (see above) stating that "Wrath" is a high water mark is like differentiating between getting hit by a freight train rolling at 60 mph as opposed to being clocked by one going only 55 mph. Either way, it's a brutal experience.
"Wrath" opens with the majestic instrumental "The Passing." "Broken Hands," "Dead Seeds" and "Fake Messiah" are a cut above.
"Resolution" is exactly what fans expect. "Straight For The Sun," "Invictus" and "Cheated" are right out of the Lamb Of God canon. Typically, "Desolation" is driven by a can't-miss machine gun rhythm.
Morton's claim (see above) is a distinction without a difference. Any change-ups or subtle nuances are simply buried in the din. However, it should be noted that Morton and Alder turn in exceptional guitar work on "The Undertow" and "To The End" while Blythe elevates his game for "Ghost Walking."