Lamb Of God Recall The Past

Lamb Of God celebrated the release of Wrath — their sixth record in the last decade — on Feb. 24.

But this month, the band from "Richmond motherfucking Virginia," as singer Randy Blythe so proudly says, have another reason to celebrate. April 13 marked the 10-year anniversary of the release of Burn The Priest, the band's self-titled debut when they still went by that name.

Burn The Priest weren't the technically gifted musicians they are today. That first album was a relentless mix of thrash, doom and death metal with about as much subtlety as Lamb Of God's original name.

Taking a brief trip down memory lane, guitarist Mark Morton can barely recall those early days. But he remembers their van breaking down on the way to the studio.

"My memory of recording that record is a little spotty. Probably a combination of the fact that it was 10 years ago and also we were a rowdy drunken bunch back then.

"I don't remember exactly what we had planned. I think we had like six or seven days planned [to record] and we lost two or three of them sitting in New Jersey waiting for our van to get fixed.

"By the time we showed up there, we were two or three days late getting started on the session. I remember working very, very long hours on into the early morning, sleeping for a few hours and getting right back to it, and then a lot of drinking and a lot of partying.

"At the time, I mean, we definitely took the music seriously, but it was really kind of all for fun. We all still had day jobs and we never had any visions or even aspirations of being a major label band or global heavy metal band at all. That didn't even seem like it would've been possible, so it wasn't something we were even thinking about. We were really just going out there to have a good time and get a cool document, a cool recording of these songs that we had written.

"A dear friend of ours who has recently passed away, a fellow named Mikey Brosnan, was cool enough and into the music enough to scrape together his money and put together the budget for us to go up there and record and put it out. There was no label. I mean, we had a little record label, but really, the agenda was going to be record it, press it and sell it at our shows. We would literally walk them around to different record stores around Philly and put a couple of copies in the store hoping they'd sell. That's really where it all started."

The band changed their name to the slightly more tasteful Lamb Of God and released their sophomore album, New American Gospel, on Prosthetic Records. Things really began to take off for the band in 2003 with the release of As The Palaces Burn, which is arguably one of the best metal records of the past 10 years.

"It's funny, Chris [Adler, drummer] and I were actually talking about this last night," says Morton. "We were talking about where we were over the course of each record.

"It's, like, As The Palaces Burn wouldn't have been possible without New American Gospel and [2004's] Ashes Of The Wake without Palaces.

"We learned from each record, and each record we almost had to get out of our system to get ready for the next one. Each record is a response or reaction from where we were coming from on the other one. There are things about Palaces that I really love, and it is a lot of people's favourite record.

"I think when I hear people talk about their favourite Lamb Of God record, and there's quite a few records now, I think it has a lot to do with — and I can relate a little bit on my own level as a fan of metal — a lot of it has to do when you discovered the band.

"I'm certainly fond of the record. It was one of those things that at that point in time we still had a bit to learn about production, so there are things about the way it sounds that I wish would've been a little bit different. But at the same time, I guess I wouldn't change them because then it wouldn't be the record that it is."

Fast forward to the end of 2007, when the band had just come off touring in support of 2006's Sacrament. They'd spent virtually seven years straight touring and recording and were ready for a real break. But when you're one of the most prolific bands in metal, things don't always work out the way you plan.

"We had initially thought we would take six to eight months away from the band, but it didn't wind up being that way at all," explains Morton. "We ended up touring until December 2007, and by March 2008 we were in the studio writing. So we were more or less on the same cycle that we'd always been on.

"We did take a couple of months off, but, like I said, between two or three months after finishing that tour, we were writing songs five days a week and we wrote for about six months. And then we recorded for about three months and then we were on the road with Metallica. So we were off the road for about 11 months, which was nice and a much needed recharge for us to be able to spend that kind of time at home with our families, but we were still behind the scenes pretty much working full-time."

The result of all that work is Wrath, an intentionally rawer sounding record than its predecessor, the far more layered and sleek-sounding Sacrament. Once again, the band followed the same cause and effect pattern of their previous release.

"For the sake of flipping the script a bit, we wanted to change things up with Wrath, and the natural gut instinct was to do almost the opposite [of Sacrament] and present a really live, aggressive and very pure-sounding record," says Morton. "Not as processed and not as heavily produced, just a little more in your face and a more natural stripped-away-sounding recording of the band, and that's what we had decided early in that we wanted to do as we were writing the first few songs."

Since the release of Burn The Priest, Lamb Of God have pretty much come full circle with Wrath as they go on tour and continue the tradition of the "pure American metal" they've been preaching for the past 10 years. Hopefully they'll continue to grind that axe for a long time.

Lamb Of God will play these shows:

April 16 Toronto, ON @ Sunrise Records at 336 Yonge St. (in-store signing, 5-6 p.m.)
April 16 Toronto, ON @ Ricoh Coliseum
April 17 Montreal, QC @ HMV Megastore at 1020 Sainte-Catherine St. W. (in-store signing, 5-6 p.m.)
April 17 Montreal, QC @ CEPSUM
April 18 Boston, MA @ Newbury Comics (in-store signing, 4 p.m.)
April 18 Worcester, MA @ Palladium
April 19 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
April 21 Columbus, OH @ LC Pavilion
April 22 Atlanta, GA @ Best Buy at 1210 Caroline St. N.E. (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
April 22 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
April 23 Lafayette, LA @ Blackham Coliseum
April 24 Houston, TX @ Cactus Records (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
April 24 Houston, TX @ Verizon Theatre
April 25 Corpus Christi, TX @ Concrete St. Amphitheatre
April 26 Dallas, TX @ Good Records (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
April 26 Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
April 28 Denver, CO @ The Fillmore
April 29 Kansas City, KS @ Uptown Theatre
April 30 St. Paul, MN @ Myth
May 1 Chicago, IL @ Best Buy at 3253 W. Belmont Ave. (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
May 1 Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre
May 2 St. Louis, MO @ Vintage Vinyl (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
May 2 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
May 3 Indianapolis, IN @ Luna Music (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
May 3 Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Murat Center
May 5 Louisville, KY @ Expo Five
May 6 Detroit, MI @ Fillmore Theatre
May 8 New York, NY @ Sam Ash (in-store signing, 4-6 p.m.; Will Adler, Chris Adler and John Campbell only)
May 8 New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
May 9 Asbury Park, NJ @ Convention Center
May 11 Baltimore, MD @ Soundgarden (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
May 11 Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live!
May 12 Boston, MA @ Daddys Junky Music (in-store signing, 4-6 p.m.; Will Adler, Chris Adler and John Campbell only)
May 12 Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
May 13 Albany, NY @ F.Y.E. at Crossgates Mall (in-store signing, 4:15 p.m.)
May 13 Albany, NY @ Washington St. Armory
May 14 Richmond, VA @ Plan 9 (in-store signing, 6:30 p.m.)
May 14 Richmond, VA @ The National (w/Municipal Waste and God Forbid only)
May 15 Myrtle Beach, VA @ House Of Blues