# Lamb of God (band)
**Lamb of God** is an American heavy metal band from [Richmond, Virginia](https://www.edgepedia.org/richmond-virginia), formed in 1994 under the name **Burn the Priest** and known for groove-heavy riffing that blends metalcore, thrash, punk, sludge, and groove-laden death metal. AllMusic describes the group as a linchpin of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350) The current lineup consists of vocalist [Randy Blythe](https://www.edgepedia.org/randy-blythe), guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Art Cruz.[2](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v2/36b2bb715fa632536e5facbf8f65f3d8cdd59951.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Formed in 1994 in Richmond, Virginia, as Burn the Priest; one account dates the instrumental beginnings to 1990 among college students in Richmond[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350) • [3](https://www.westword.com/music/lamb-of-god-5118871/) |
| Name change | Became Lamb of God in 1999, with AllMusic citing a wish to avoid being mistaken for a Satanic metal outfit; a venue-ban story circulated by fans is described as misinformation[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350) • [4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-black-sheep-of-the-metal-family) |
| Debut album | *Burn the Priest*, released April 13, 1999 on Legion Records; remixed and re-released in 2005 by Epic after three full albums and two DVDs[5](https://loudwire.com/lamb-of-god-burn-the-priest-debut-album-anniversary/) |
| Breakthrough | Signed to Prosthetic Records in April 2000 and released *New American Gospel*, their first album under the Lamb of God name[6](https://www.lambgoat.com/bands/50/www.lamb-of-god.com/) • [4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-black-sheep-of-the-metal-family) |
| Chart peak | *Lamb of God* (2020) debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Hard Rock Albums chart[7](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lamb-of-god-mn0000781350) |
| Recent album | *Into Oblivion*, released March 13, 2026 through Century Media and Epic, produced by longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur[8](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion-single) |
| Drummer change | Chris Adler was replaced in 2019 by Art Cruz, formerly of Winds of Plague and Prong[7](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lamb-of-god-mn0000781350) |
## Origins as Burn the Priest
The band began in the Richmond, Virginia music scene, where its founding members were in college. Mark Morton described the earliest incarnation as a "drinking club who made noise" in an Alternative Press oral history of the band's career.[9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCqwoqW8Vkk) A Denver Westword profile dates the instrumental group called Burn the Priest to 1990, with singer Randy Blythe joining in the mid-1990s after a series of demos; other references, including AllMusic, Lambgoat, and a Blunt Magazine interview with Morton, place the Burn the Priest years from 1994 to 2000.[3](https://www.westword.com/music/lamb-of-god-5118871/) • [1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350) • [10](https://bluntmag.com.au/music/lamb-of-god-the-calm-before-the-sturm/) Morton later estimated that only a couple of thousand people saw the band perform under that name.[10](https://bluntmag.com.au/music/lamb-of-god-the-calm-before-the-sturm/)
On April 13, 1999, the band, still called Burn the Priest, released a self-titled full-length album on Legion Records.[5](https://loudwire.com/lamb-of-god-burn-the-priest-debut-album-anniversary/)
**The rename.** As the band courted a record deal with [Prosthetic Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/prosthetic-records), Morton was uncertain about continuing under the Burn the Priest name, which the members had invested years of effort in; the change to [Lamb of God](https://www.edgepedia.org/lamb-of-god) was made before the deal went through.[11](https://knotfest.com/blogs/culture/whats-in-a-name-mark-morton-recounts-how-lamb-of-god-almost-never-was) AllMusic records the motivation as avoiding confusion with a Satanic metal band, and a Metal Hammer feature explicitly labels the widely repeated story that the band was banned from venues because of its original name as misinformation.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350) • [4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-black-sheep-of-the-metal-family)
## The Lamb of God years
In April 2000 the band signed to Prosthetic Records and released *New American Gospel*, with Willie Adler, Chris Adler's brother, having taken over on guitar from Abe Spear, who left to take a full-time job.[6](https://www.lambgoat.com/bands/50/www.lamb-of-god.com/) • [4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-black-sheep-of-the-metal-family) A Louder feature on the album describes it as the record that "kickstarted 2000s metal" and notes the mania in the band's playing at that stage.[12](https://www.loudersound.com/features/lamb-of-god-new-american-gospel-story-behind-album)
A run of albums followed through the 2000s: *As the Palaces Burn* (2003), mixed by [Devin Townsend](https://www.edgepedia.org/devin-townsend); *Ashes of the Wake* (2004); *Sacrament* (2006); *Wrath* (2009); and *Resolution* (2012).[13](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/ranking-every-lamb-of-god-album-worst-to-best) • [2](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v2/36b2bb715fa632536e5facbf8f65f3d8cdd59951.pdf) Songs from this era became fixtures of modern metal: "Laid to Rest" appeared in the video game *Guitar Hero II*, and "Now You've Got Something to Die For" and "Redneck" are cited by Metal Hammer among the band's biggest anthems.[14](https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/api/collection/iwu_argus/id/1358/download) • [13](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/ranking-every-lamb-of-god-album-worst-to-best)
In 2015 the band released *VII: Sturm und Drang*, an album Metal Hammer says was shaped by Randy Blythe's experiences while on trial for manslaughter, with a reflective song, "Overlord," showing the band moving into melodic territory.[13](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/ranking-every-lamb-of-god-album-worst-to-best)
**Later releases.** In 2018 the band reactivated the Burn the Priest name for *Legion: XX*, a covers album of songs by punk, hardcore, noise rock, and sludge metal acts including [Bad Brains](https://www.edgepedia.org/bad-brains), Melvins, Ministry, Quicksand, and [Big Black](https://www.edgepedia.org/big-black).[7](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lamb-of-god-mn0000781350) Drummer Art Cruz, formerly of [Winds of Plague](https://www.edgepedia.org/winds-of-plague) and Prong, replaced Chris Adler in 2019 and made his recording debut with the band on *Lamb of God* (2020), which debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Hard Rock Albums chart.[7](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lamb-of-god-mn0000781350) *Omens* followed in 2022, again produced by Josh Wilbur.[8](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion-single)
## Into Oblivion and current activity
In late 2025 the band released "Sepsis," its first new original song since *Omens*, which reached number one on the U.S. metal radio charts; the song references the Richmond underground and the bands Lamb of God played alongside in their early years, including the Virginia hardcore band Slang Laos, which Morton called a big influence.[15](https://news.livenationentertainment.com/news/lamb-of-god-announce-2026-north-american-tour) • [16](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion) The full album *[Into Oblivion](https://www.edgepedia.org/into-oblivion-album)* arrived on March 13, 2026, through Century Media and Epic.[8](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion-single)
Willie Adler told [Guitar World](https://www.edgepedia.org/guitar-world) that the band deliberately returned to the loose, riff-first method of the *As the Palaces Burn* and *Ashes of the Wake* era rather than adhering to conventional verse-chorus structure, and Guitar World describes *Into Oblivion* as the band's most musically diverse release in more than a decade, spanning tech-thrash, hardcore, and melodic material.[16](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion) The band supported the album with a 2026 North American tour with Kublai Khan TX, Fit For An Autopsy, and [Sanguisugabogg](https://www.edgepedia.org/sanguisugabogg), produced by Live Nation, and a co-headlining Australian tour with [Trivium](https://www.edgepedia.org/trivium-band).[15](https://news.livenationentertainment.com/news/lamb-of-god-announce-2026-north-american-tour) • [17](https://lambgoat.com/music/Lamb-Of-God)
## Genre and sound
Critics most often file Lamb of God under groove metal, a subgenre built on thrash-derived, syncopated riffing; a Harvard Crimson concert review describes the band as a staple for listeners with an affinity for groove metal and its "infectious groovy feel."[18](https://www.thecrimson.com/column/the-breakdown/article/2026/5/25/lamb-of-god-concert-review/) AllMusic's style listing for the band includes death metal, heavy metal, alternative metal, and speed/thrash metal, alongside the biography's blend of metalcore, thrash, punk, sludge, and groove-laden death metal.[7](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lamb-of-god-mn0000781350) • [1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350) A reviewer at Encyclopaedia Metallum characterized *New American Gospel* as metalcore-flavored and noted that the band moved toward a straight-up post-thrash sound from *Ashes of the Wake* onward.[19](https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Lamb_of_God/New_American_Gospel/183/) The band's use of the breakdown, a formal section adapted from hardcore into much modern metal, is documented in music-theory scholarship, which cites Lamb of God's "Walk With Me in Hell" as a stereotypical example.[20](https://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.1/mto.22.28.1.hannan.pdf)
**Reception.** A 2020 Metacritic compilation of reviews for the self-titled album recorded both praise as a unifying metal record and the observation that it lacked the groundbreaking quality of the band's 2000s output.[21](https://www.metacritic.com/music/lamb-of-god/lamb-of-god/critic-reviews) In 2025, after 22 years, the band retired its long-standing wordmark logo as part of a rebrand.[22](https://www.creativebloq.com/design/logos-icons/lamb-of-god-just-axed-their-iconic-logo-for-a-hilarious-reason)
## References
1. [Lamb of God biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/something-mn0000781350)
2. [Lamb of God discography entry (heyzine PDF)](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v2/36b2bb715fa632536e5facbf8f65f3d8cdd59951.pdf)
3. [Lamb of God, Denver Westword](https://www.westword.com/music/lamb-of-god-5118871/)
4. [The black sheep of the metal family, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-black-sheep-of-the-metal-family)
5. [27 Years Ago: Lamb of God (as Burn the Priest) Issue Debut Album, Loudwire](https://loudwire.com/lamb-of-god-burn-the-priest-debut-album-anniversary/)
6. [Lamb Of God, Lambgoat band page](https://www.lambgoat.com/bands/50/www.lamb-of-god.com/)
7. [Lamb of God biography, AllMusic artist page](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lamb-of-god-mn0000781350)
8. [Lamb Of God announce Into Oblivion, Louder/Metal Hammer](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion-single)
9. [LAMB OF GOD: The Complete History from 'Burn The Priest' To 'Lamb Of God', Alternative Press (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCqwoqW8Vkk)
10. [Lamb Of God "The Calm Before The Sturm", Blunt Magazine](https://bluntmag.com.au/music/lamb-of-god-the-calm-before-the-sturm/)
11. [What's In A Name: Mark Morton Recounts How Lamb of God Almost Never Was, Knotfest](https://knotfest.com/blogs/culture/whats-in-a-name-mark-morton-recounts-how-lamb-of-god-almost-never-was)
12. [The story behind New American Gospel, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/features/lamb-of-god-new-american-gospel-story-behind-album)
13. [Every Lamb Of God album ranked from worst to best, Louder/Metal Hammer](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/ranking-every-lamb-of-god-album-worst-to-best)
14. [The Argus, Illinois Wesleyan University](https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/api/collection/iwu_argus/id/1358/download)
15. [Lamb Of God Announce 2026 North American Tour, Live Nation](https://news.livenationentertainment.com/news/lamb-of-god-announce-2026-north-american-tour)
16. [Willie Adler and Mark Morton on Into Oblivion, Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/lamb-of-god-into-oblivion)
17. [Lamb Of God news, Lambgoat](https://lambgoat.com/music/Lamb-Of-God)
18. [Lamb of God Concert Review: The Groove Overcomes All, The Harvard Crimson](https://www.thecrimson.com/column/the-breakdown/article/2026/5/25/lamb-of-god-concert-review/)
19. [Lamb of God - New American Gospel review, Encyclopaedia Metallum](https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Lamb_of_God/New_American_Gospel/183/)
20. [Hannan, Music Theory Online 28.1 (2022)](https://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.1/mto.22.28.1.hannan.pdf)
21. [Critic Reviews for Lamb of God, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/lamb-of-god/lamb-of-god/critic-reviews)
22. [Lamb of God retired their iconic logo, Creative Bloq](https://www.creativebloq.com/design/logos-icons/lamb-of-god-just-axed-their-iconic-logo-for-a-hilarious-reason)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Music scenes › Transnational genre scenes › Heavy metal scenes › Artists, groups, and people: Heavy metal scenes › Modern Metal & -core › Metalcore artists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license