Where pain, adrenaline and frustration turn to rage, therein lurk Lamb of God. In the ten years since they changed their name from Burn the Priest and continued their musical quest, the Richmond, Virginia band has written some of the heaviest, most brutal music ever recorded. They have consistently accompanied their persistent savagery with technical songwriting and jaw dropping musicianship. But never have they achieved the level of precision, complexity and hateful groove that they exhibit on their last disc, Sacrament. A combination of pummeling thrash, gripping hardcore and thrilling classic metal, the album is searing, bold and relentless, probing dark unexplored regions of aggression and emotional decay rivaled by none.
Lamb of God is now prepped and ready to release their fifth studio album WRATH, on February 24th, 2009. The record will be released in North America by Epic and will be the first release with their new label Roadrunner outside of North America. WRATH is produced by Grammy winner Josh Wilbur and was recorded in studios in New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire.
The band has taken the majority of 2008 off the road to focus on the writing process for WRATH. As previously announced, the band will be supporting Metallica on the December leg of their tour. The first leg of the WRATH world tour will start in Finland on February 6th and will encompass dates in the UK, Australia, and Japan.
“This album is going to surprise a lot of people,” comments drummer 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 and on February 24th you will feel it.”
In an era of stagnant, contrived metal, Lamb of God is a harrowing rush of honesty, a declaration that no matter what anyone else is playing, Lamb of God will always follow their own hearts.
"This band was started because no one out there was making the music that we wanted to hear," singer Randy Blythe says. "So, we decided to make that music, and from that point it has just been a continuation of that philosophy. We had never changed anything we do to appeal to anyone, appease anyone or seek any sort of approval from anyone other than ourselves."
Defying the odds has always been a way of life for Lamb of God. Their first album, 2000’s New American Gospel, was profoundly, willfully unfashionable compared to the slick “nu-metal” that ruled the charts at the time. Touring endlessly in support of the album, they'd sometimes play for only a handful of people, but they never gave up. "We've just been relentless," Blythe said. "We practiced constantly, we were broke for ages. I was homeless for a while and sometimes I didn't have enough money to eat. But that didn't matter. All we lived for was the music."
Gradually, Lamb of God's persistence paid off. Their 2003 disc, As the Palaces Burn earned them a new level of respect and admiration, but it was 2004's virulent Ashes of the Wake that turned the band into true contenders for the metal throne. By mid 2006, the record had sold over 275,000 copies; a Guitar World readers poll deemed it best metal album and awarded the band "most valuable players," "best shredders" and "best riffs." The video for "Now You've Got Something to Die For" earned "best video" from both Headbanger's Ball and Revolver. And a DVD chronicling the tour, Killadelphia, has since gone platinum.
Lamb of God’s latest double disc DVD, Walk With Me In Hell, debuted #2 on Billboard’s Video Music Chart selling over 13,000 units. The DVD shipped gold in its first week and the heavy metal icons were a close second to pop mainstay John Mayer. Lamb of God’s prior DVD, the platinum-certified Killadelphia, sold 8,000 in its first week and debuted at # 4 on the charts. With its incredible first week success, ‘Walk With Me In Hell’ is poised to far surpass its predecessor.
The Walk With Me In Hell two DVD set features over five hours of incredible, all-access footage. Disc 1 contains the highly anticipated feature documentary ‘Walk With Me In Hell’ and multiple live performance extras from across the globe on the Sacrament World Tour. Disc 2 includes the additional full-length feature “Making of Sacrament” plus Lamb of God’s entire, uncut, brutal performance at the Download Festival 2007, where they performed in front of over 72,000 fans. Extras include deleted scenes, live performance videos for various tour stops, the official music video for “Redneck,” and a “Making of Redneck” documentary.
Drummer Chris Adler commented on the initial success of the double DVD: “We are incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated fans and friends across the world. This incredible achievement is a very proud moment for all of us. Our journey over the past 2 years has been nothing short of amazing, and we thank you all for joining us.”
"What's amazing to me is that we've done all that by playing exactly what we wanted to hear," Blythe says. "Some bands try to modify their sound to appeal to whatever is in vogue at the time. They go to their audience. Well, the audience has come to us. We've remained the same."
After a recording experience like the one that produced Sacrament, most bands would have taken a much-needed vacation. But Lamb of God immediately hit the road, where they proved over the next several North American tours that they could hold their own in an arena setting, bringing a show so intense that they were banned from playing the Los Angeles Forum. To end the year, the band then took the finely tuned machine across Europe, Japan, and Australia, again playing both arenas and festivals.
“We used to think we were creating our own destiny, driving the car,” concludes Adler. “But since Sacrament blew up, so much stuff has happened around us and for us and to us, we realized that it’s really important to just stay focused on the music and the friendships we have with each other, because there’s no way to keep up with the other stuff - it’s bigger than us. We just want to feel good about what we’re doing, enjoy each other’s company, and go out every night and kick ass together.”
As always, LAMB OF GOD will embark on an extensive tour that will cover the globe to support the upcoming WRATH album. Tour dates are below.
Lamb of God w/ Metallica:
12/04 – Calgary, AB – Penngrowth Saddledome
12/05 – Calgary, AB - Penngrowth Saddledome
12/07 – Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
12/12 – Ontario, CA – Citizens Business Bank Arena
12/13 – Fresno, CA – Save Mart Center
12/15 – San Diego, CA – Cox Arena
12/20 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
Lamb of God (headlining) w/ The Sword and The Faceless:
12/06 – Saskatoon, SK – Praireland Exhibition Hall A
12/09 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory Concert House
12/10 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
12/11 – Chico, CA – Senator Theater
12/19 – Ventura, CA – Majestic Ventura Theater
Lamb of God (headlining) w/ The Faceless and Job For a Cowboy:
12/16 – Anaheim, CA – The Grove of Anaheim
12/17 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater
12/18 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
Lamb of God UK Tour w/ Dimmu Borgir and Five Finger Death Punch:
2/6/09 Frostbite Festival - Finland
2/8/09 Belfast/ Mandela Hall
2/9/09 Dublin/ Academy
2/11/09 Bristol/ Academy
2/12/09 Birmingham/ Academy
2/13/09 Manchester/ Academy
2/14/09 London/ Brixton Academy
2/15/09 Glasgow/ Academy
2/21/09 Brisbane/ RNA Showgrounds
2/22/09 Sidney/ TBC
2/27/09 Melbourne/ Ras Showgrounds
2/28/09 Adelaide/ Bonython Park
3/2/09 Perth/ Bassendean Oval
3/4/09 Tokyo/ Blitz
3/5/09 Tokyo/ Blitz
3/6/09 Nagoya/ Diamond Hall
3/7/09 Osaka/ Hatch
