Lamb of God was formed in Richmond, Virginia and is an American heavy metal band. They have released a total of eleven albums, one live album, one greatest hits album, three DVDs, two EPs, and twenty-eight singles and have had two albums certified gold and received multiple Grammy nominations. Members include:
- John Campbell – bassist
- Randy Blythe – vocalist
- Mark Morton – guitarist
- Willie Adler -guitarist
- Art Cruz – drummer
Is Lamb of God a Religious Band?
John Campbell, Chris Adler, Mark Morton, and Matt Conner formed the band in 1994. Back then, the name of the band was Burn the Priest. The guys all knew each other from college, but not long after the band formed, Mark and Matt left. The band played around Virginia for the next five years. Their first demo, which was self-titled, was released in 1995 followed by two split EPs; one with Agents of Satan, and the other with ZED.
Mark returned to the band in 1997, and the first album, which was self-titled, was released by Legion Records. Mikey Brosnan of Legion Records saved $2500 for recording the album and got gigs for them in Philadelphia through DIY shows. It was produced by Steve Austin of Today Is the Day. Soon after, Spear, a guitarist, left the band, and Chris’ younger brother, Willie, joined the band, they signed with Prosthetic Records. They ended up changing their name to Lamb of God because of the altered lineup as well as being mistaken for a satanic metal band.
They released their second album New American Gospel, in 2000. Chris commented on the album:
“This is a classic record. We had all the elements come together to make one of the heaviest, yet most contagious records of our career. It was difficult to contain us—we didn’t even understand at the time what we had created.” (Wikipedia)
They toured for two years before releasing their third album, As the Palaces Burn. It was voted the number-one album in 2003 by Revolver Magazine and Metal Hammer. They also made a DVD that included live performances and a documentary called Terror and Hubris. It debuted 31 on BillBoard’s Top Music Videos chart.
In 2004, the band released their fourth album, Ashes of the Wake, which debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and sold 35,000 copies in the first week. It was released through a new label, Epic Records. It ended up being their first certified album by the RIAA in 2016, which was gold. They toured extensively to support the album, including a second stage slot at Ozzfest. The first single, Laid to Rest, was featured on the game Guitar Hero.
Sacrament, the fifth album, came out in 2006. It debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 and sold around 65,000 copies in the first week, which resulted in their second gold album. They appeared on major tours with The Unholy Alliance. Gigantour, another appearance at Ozzfest, an appearance at the Download Festival, and co-headlining with Killswitch Engage, Soilwork, and DevilDriver. They were also nominated for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards in 2007. They released a deluxe edition of the album in 2007. The album had a second CD, which included all of the vocal, bass, guitar, and drum tracks in mp3 format.
Despite all of their success, they had their problems. There was a serious altercation after a concert in Scotland that involved several members of the band and crew doing heavy drinking. Randy became verbally violent toward Chris and Mark. In response, Mark hit Randy from behind on the bus. Although the fight became violent when they got off the bus, they reconciled a couple of days later over drinks.
In 2012, Randy was arrested in Prague and was charged with intentionally committing bodily harm to a fan after they climbed on stage. The 19-year-old fan was pushed by Randy and fell off the stage and hit their head on the floor and later died due to the injury. The band canceled the tour but resumed touring about a month later when Randy was released on bail. The court said Randy had a moral responsibility for the teen’s death but was not criminally liable.
The band went on hiatus after plans for recording their next album were put on hold due to insufficient funds due to Randy’s trial in 2014. Randy said he would be taking a long break from the band, but later revealed he had plans to release a new album using lyrics he wrote during his incarceration.
In 2015, Lamb of God released the album Sturm and Drang by Epic and Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Still, Echoes was the first song released and was made available for streaming and download. They later released a video for the song 512.
They released an EP called The Duke in 2016 which featured two songs from their latest album plus three live tracks. The title track was dedicated to a friend of Randy, who died of Leukemia. Members of the band auctioned off various items in an effort to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The band went on hiatus in 2017, but Mark said they would still be making music. However, his statement was so open-ended that nobody knew what it meant.
In early 2018, the band supported the Slayer Farewell tour. They also released a cover album called Legion: XX, which was actually their self-titled album under their former name, Burn the Priest.
Chris left the band in 2019. The band replaced him with Art Cruz and further announced they began working on their next album, Lamb of God. The first single was called Checkmate, which was the first song to feature their new drummer. They toured in support of the album and co-headlined with Megadeth.
What kind of music is Lamb of God?
Lamb of God is categorized as a significant member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. They are also categorized as groove metal, metalcore, thrash metal, and death metal.
Influences include Pantera, The Accused, and Septic Death among many others. Just for completeness, this list also includes Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Aerosmith.
Is Lamb of God a Christian Band?
Lamb of God is definitely not a Christian band. It didn’t take much research to figure this out. If you are looking for a good Christian band, then you should not follow this band.
Lamb of God Christian Songs
Lamb of God has no Christian songs.
Is Lamb of God a satanic band?
I’m going to be very honest here. When I learned of the band’s original name, Burn the Priest, I thought they were satanic. However, after realizing they changed their name to avoid being categorized as that, I was able to exhale a little, but that by no means makes them a Christian band. I’ll say they are not satanic, but they are not a band to follow.
Conclusion
I picked this band because I thought the name was a good Christian name but was extremely disappointed when I did the research. As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of heavy metal, Christian or secular. Having said that, research on a band must be done. Just because a band has a good name doesn’t mean you should automatically follow them. The bottom line is this band should not be followed.
This band needs our prayers!!