Line #32 Music/LambOfGod


1	[floatboxright:
2	Influences:
3	+Music/{{Pantera}}, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/{{Metallica}}, Music/{{Slayer}}, Music/{{Overkill}}, Cro-Mags, Corrosion of Conformity, Music/{{Megadeth}}, Music/{{Testament}}, Music/DirtyRottenImbeciles, Music/NapalmDeath, Music/{{Melvins}}, Music/TheJesusLizard, Music/{{Helmet}}, Music/AliceInChains, Music/{{Eyehategod}}, Music/{{Sepultura}}, Trouble, Music/LynyrdSkynyrd, Music/{{Obituary}}, Music/BoltThrower, Music/{{Crowbar}}, Music/{{Buzzoven}}, Today Is the Day, Unsane, Music/{{Shellac}}]
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5	Lamb of God, not to be confused with the nickname of [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} that really famous guy with the beard]], is a five-piece metal band from Richmond, Virginia. They are considered the main band of the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal".
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7	The band's current membership consists of bassist John Campbell, vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, and drummer Art Cruz. They formed in 1990 as an instrumental band named Burn the Priest, later adding vocalist Blythe. Their debut album was the self-titled ''Burn the Priest'' in 1998, which is now not technically self-titled because... yeah. Shortly afterwards, they changed their name to "Lamb of God" because the band thought the name "Burn the Priest" would lead their fans to do wrong things.
8
9	In January 2014, Randy Blythe announced that he would be taking a break from music, and that there would be no new material from the band for quite some time. Drummer Chris Adler later confirmed this in an interview, stating that legal fees incurred from Randy's trial made a serious dent in the band's finances and they were taking an extended break. The break ended in April 2015, with the band posting pictures of their studio gear and talking about an eighth album on Instagram (which was released in July of that year).
10
11	In July 2019, Chris Adler left the band; Art Cruz (Prong, Winds of Plague) officially joined as their new drummer.
12	-----
13	!!!Members:
14	* John Campbell - bass (1990-present)
15	* Randy Blythe - vocals (1995-present)
16	* Mark Morton - lead guitar (1990-1994, 1997-present)
17	* Willie Adler - rhythm guitar (1999-present)
18	* Art Cruz - drums (2019-present)
19
20	!!!Discography:
21	* ''Burn the Priest'' (1999) (As Burn the Priest)
22	* ''New American Gospel'' (2000)
23	* ''As the Palaces Burn'' (2003)
24	* ''Ashes of the Wake'' (2004)
25	* ''Sacrament'' (2006)
26	* ''Wrath'' (2009)
27	* ''Resolution'' (2012)
28	* ''VII: Sturm und Drang'' (2015)
29	* ''Legion: XX'' (2018) (cover album as Burn the Priest)
30	* ''Lamb of God'' (2020)
31	* ''Omens'' (2022)
32	----
33	!!Laid To Tropes:
34	* AlbumTitleDrop: A strange case. ''Ashes of the Wake'' - the album - has its title track, however the song is mainly an instrumental with some talking bits. No use of the words "ashes of the wake." "Hourglass," on the same album, does have the lyrics "ashes of the wake", however.
35	** ''Sacrament'' doesn't have a title track, but the song "Requiem" opens with the line "Down, chemical ''sacrament''.
36	** ''Resolution'' is another interesting case, as tis happens in the album's bonus track, "Digital Sands", which contains the line "High ''resolution'' lies fill the screen".
37	* AnimatedMusicVideo: The video for "Ghost Walking".
38	* AscendedExtra: Art Cruz had been touring with the band for over a year as a fill-in before he was hired on full-time as their new drummer.
39	* AudienceParticipationSong: '''NOW! YOU'VE GOT! SOMETHING!!! TO DIE FOR!!!!'''
40	** "Blacken the Cursed Sun" can be one of these, thanks to the chanted "'''HELL NO!'''" part close to the end.
41	* CallBack: "Ghost Walking" is this to the title of the previous track on the album
42	---> Desolation never looked so divine
43	* ClusterFBomb: Some of their songs borderline on this, notably "Laid to Rest," "Redneck," and "Contractor."
44	* ConceptAlbum: Some have claimed ''Ashes of the Wake'' is a concept album due to its recurring references to the Second Gulf War.
45	* CoverAlbum: ''Legion: XX'' is a compilation of covers of classic HardcorePunk and metal songs ([[Music/BigBlack "Kerosene"]], [[Music/StormtroopersOfDeath "Kill Yourself"]], [[Music/BadBrains "I Against I"]], [[Music/{{Ministry}} "Jesus Built My Hotrod"]] among others) in a punkier take on Lamb of God's signature style.
46	* DarkerAndEdgier: While past albums had songs that dealt with war, religion and loss of family, among other mature topics, ''Resolution'' is seen as their darkest album as not only are the lyrics more depressing and frightening, but the tone and style of the album have been compared with Music/{{Pantera}}'s ''The Great Southern Trendkill'', another very dark album.
47	** The album ''VII: Sturm und Drang'' takes this a step further, with more grisly lyrics inspired by Randy's 2012 imprisonment in the Czech Republic.
48	* DeathMetal: Some of their [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_the_Priest_%28album%29 early]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_American_Gospel albums]] qualifies as death metal, if Website/TheOtherWiki is to be believed. They also incorporate influences from the genre to this day and are one of the bands most likely to be mistakenly called such.
49	* DrugsAreBad: "On The Hook" off their self-titled album, a song that tackles the opioid epidemic.
50	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Burn the Priest'' sounds almost nothing like what the band has put out nowadays because of the heavier, deathgrind-influenced sound complete with IndecipherableLyrics.
51	** ''New American Gospel'', while their first official release as Lamb of God, is still spiritually a Burn the Priest album in many ways, with a significantly less technical and more hardcore and sludge metal-inspired sound than the thrash-based sound that they settled on with ''As the Palaces Burn'', and Randy's vocals were closer to a sludge-inspired howl than his trademark dry bark.
52	* {{Expy}}: The video for "Redneck" is similar to Music/{{Meshuggah}}'s video for "New Millennium Cyanide Christ," which featured the band sitting around on their bus air-instrumenting(even the drummer!) and Jens Kidman screaming into a pen instead of a microphone. [=LoG=] openly worships Meshuggah, but they took it up to eleven in their version by being booked to play a little girl's birthday party and having strippers and beer on the bus.
53	* GrooveMetal: Starting around ''New American Gospel''; their sound slowly became a mix of this, metalcore, and MelodicDeathMetal.
54	* HumansAreBastards: Just read Randy's section of the special thanks in the lyric book for ''Sacrament.''
55	* IndecipherableLyrics: Quite a fair bit of the time. But ''especially'' so with "Black Label". Funnily enough, the song's lyrics are available anywhere you look, but they just don't seem to ''match'' if you try to follow them.
56	** Actually averted. "Black Label" has no comprehensible lyrics whatsoever. It was said that at the time of recording, vocalist Randy Blythe was so drunk that he just shouted a bunch of random syllables to the song. They're usually varied with every live performance.
57	* LongRunnerLineUp: A Type 2 from 1994-2019, when the band consisted of Randy Blythe, John Campbell, Mark Morton, and Willie and Chris Adler.
58	* LoudnessWar: Pretty much all of their albums fall victim to this with ''Sacrament'' and ''Wrath'' being the worst offenders, both coming in at an average of [=DR4=].
59	* {{Metalcore}}: Started out as a particularly death metal-tinged variant of this and downplayed it with each album. Elements of it still show up, but they definitely haven't been a full-fledged example of it for a while.
60	* MetalScream: The general vocal style is a mid-pitched Type 1-3 hybrid, though it's not so much a scream as... well, who the fuck knows. A growl? A shout? What the fuck is it? The fact that Randy can actually put some musical pitch into it doesn't help the discussion. With that said, he does occasionally use actual screams alongside the growl/shout/whatever, and his brief stint as a live fill-in for Cannabis Corpse demonstrated that he's also capable of full-fledged type 2s. Type 1 also appear from time to time.
61	** In terms of certain metal screams, "Laid to Rest" has "'''FAILUUUUUURE!!!'''" after the bridge which lasts a good 13 seconds and "'''THEY ALL DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!'''" from "Contractor."
62	** Averted completely, finally, Randy having several tracks where he spoke but never sang, with "Insurrection" off ''Resolution''. The song opens with clean vocals before the growl-scream starts. Also, "Overlord" is almost entirely clean sung in the first half. ''The Duke'' has Randy sing with clean vocals almost the entire way through.
63	* NewSoundAlbum: ''As the Palaces Burn'' was less metalcore and more on the GrooveMetal side of their music.
64	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: As seen in the footage of the ''Killadelphia'' DVD, Randy and Mark got into a fight due to Randy being a drunken asshole, and Mark beat the ''shit'' out of Randy. They both agreed later on that it was probably better that they just went ahead and punched each other and got it out of their systems rather than walk around bitter at each other.
65	* NonAppearingTitle: As stated above, the song "Ashes of the Wake" does not mention the title.
66	** Other examples of this trope are "Redneck," "Contractor," "11th Hour," "Vigil," the entirety of ''New American Gospel'' and somehow, "Choke Sermon"
67	* OneWomanWail: Surprisingly used with "King Me" off of ''Resolution,'' during the slow parts of the song before going louder towards the end going along with Randy's intense screams of rage.
68	* PowerBallad: "Overlord" from ''VII: Sturm und Drang'' is a notable example of this trope.
69	* ProtestSong: A few of the tracks off ''Ashes of the Wake'', particularly the title track (which has the distinction of being the only protest instrumental ever).
70	* RagsToRiches: They went from a being a bunch of broke college kids and a burnt-out local punk who booked tours through the DIY circuit and were barely scraping by as a band even with everything non-essential cut, to being one of the biggest metal acts in the world and making a solidly upper-class living off of their music.
71	* RatedMForManly: A groove metal band whose songs are driven by intense riffs and deep HarshVocals.
72	* ReligionRantSong: Occasionally. "Choke Sermon", for example, is a pretty obvious Type 3. Notably, however, the band stated in 2005 that they are not really anti-religious.
73	* SelfTitledAlbum: Technically "Burn the Priest". Their 2020 album plays this straight.
74	* ShrinkingViolet: According to the band and crew, Mark is known for being often quiet and introverted.
75	* SingingVoiceDissonance: Even by metal standards, Randy, to both his singing and his look. His high-pitched youthful-sounding speaking voice contrasts jarringly with both his deep growls ''and'' older appearance.
76	* SirSwearsALot: Randy, especially during interviews and live performances.
77	* SpokenWordInMusic: When there's no growling/screaming/whatever.
78	** "Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man..."
79	** "I saw the world through the lens of a pinhole camera..."
80	* [[TakeThat/{{Music}} Take That]]: "Redneck" towards Randy.
81	--> '''Mark''': I love Randy like a brother, but that doesn't mean we don't have our problems. So if I have to be the one to say something, then I will... And if that means someone's going to have to [[SelfDeprecation sing a lyric about themselves]], [[ShapedLikeItself then they're gonna sing a lyric about themselves]].
82	** "Again We Rise" was a vicious one towards Southern white trash who continually proclaim that the South will rise again and celebrate the Confederacy while being blissfully ignorant of the likelihood that, should such a thing actually come to pass, they would be the disposable cannon fodder.
83	** "Laid to Rest" was a TakeThatMe to Mark Morton (who wrote it) about his personal struggles at the time, with the message appearing to be something along the lines of "go ahead and ruin your own life, dude, you have no one to blame but your own damn self for this and you can either fix your situation or continue your downward spiral for no good reason".
84	* UpdatedRerelease: ''Burn the Priest'', ''New American Gospel'', and as of recent, ''As The Palace Burn'', all of which contained remastered tracks.
85	* WalkingTheEarth: What ultimately led to Randy helping form the band. After several failed bands and many dead-end, backbreaking jobs, Randy hit a breaking point around his mid-twenties and went freight-hopping across the US on a soul-searching journey. When he got back to Richmond, he really wasn't feeling any better about his life, but Abe Spear (who he had previously played in a band with) had started a promising new band and needed a vocalist, and Randy joined just to see where it went.
86	* WizardBeard: Bassist John Campbell has one of these; while he's not the oldest member of the band (that would be Randy), it went grey (then white) a lot faster than his hair, and he started letting it grow much longer during the ''Wrath'' tour.
87	* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: When they arrive in Europe to start their tour on the "Walk With Me In Hell" DVD, the band finds that their tour bus is the exact same one where Mark and Randy had their NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Willie fears the worst in his narration, but thankfully everything goes well, with Mark and Randy cracking jokes about it:
88	--> '''Mark''': My shoulder hurts.
89	--> '''Randy''': (laughs) My left eye is swelling shut as we speak.
90	* YoungerThanTheyLook: Bassist John Campbell looks to be somewhere in his mid-early 60's because of his distinctive white hair. He is only 50. Randy is 51 and looks it, but he was an example for a while as he looked to be in his fifties since he was only a few years into middle age.

Context Music / LambOfGod