Killswitch Engage

Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbandment of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Howard Jones, bassist Mike D'Antonio, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, and drummer Justin Foley. The band has released fivestudio albums and one DVD.

Killswitch Engage rose to fame with its 2004 release The End of Heartache, which peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold in December 2007 for over 500,000 shipments in the United States. The title track, "The End of Heartache", was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005, and a live DVD titled (Set This) World Ablaze was released in 2005. Killswitch Engage has performed at festivals such asWacken Open Air, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Ozzfest, Download Festival, Rock on the Range, Rock Am Ring, Mayhem Festival, Pointfest, and the Australian Soundwave Festival. The band has sold over one-million records in the United States alone and have been widely referred to as "one of the founders of metalcore."

History

Early years (1999–2000)

Killswitch Engage formed when the two metalcore bands, Overcast and Aftershockdisbanded during the late 1990s.^[1] Following the disbandment of Overcast in 1998, bassist Mike D'Antonio jammed with Aftershock guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Dutkiewicz recruited guitarist Joel Stroetzel from Aftershock, and vocalist Jesse Leach of the band Nothing Stays Gold (who were signed to a record label owned by Dutkiewicz's brother Tobias Dutkiewicz, who was also the vocalist in Aftershock), to form a new band, Killswitch Engage. The band's name is derived from an episode of the television series The X-Filesentitled "Kill Switch", written by William Gibson. Gibson named his episode after a chance meeting with industrial band Kill Switch...Klick.

In 1999, Killswitch Engage recorded a demo tape containing four tracks, including "Soilborn," Killswitch Engage's first song. The demo tape was first released at the band's first show, opening for melodic death metal act In Flames, in November 1999.

Debut album and Alive or Just Breathing (2000–2002)

They released their self-titled debut album in 2000. Although initially the album was not a financial success and did not land on any charts, it attracted the interest of Carl Severson, who worked at Roadrunner Records at the time. Severson handed Killswitch Engage to several Roadrunner representatives. Mike Gitter, a talent agent of the company, contacted D'Antonio, attended several of the band's shows, and offered the band a recording contract with Roadrunner. Realizing Roadrunner had the resources to promote and distribute Killswitch Engage releases, the band accepted his offer, declining several offers from smaller labels.  For a brief time in 2000 and 2001, ex-Overcast guitarist Pete Cortese joined Killlswitch Engage, but left in 2001 when he became a father.

Killswitch Engage began writing new material for their second album in November 2001. Mixed in January at Backstage Studios by producer Andy Sneap,^[4] the album was titled Alive or Just Breathing for lyrics in the song "Just Barely Breathing". A music video for the single "My Last Serenade" increased the band's exposure, and the album peaked at number 37 on the Top Heatseekers chart.

New lead singer and drummer (2002–2004)

   Following Alive or Just Breathing's release, which was written and recorded for two guitarists, the band decided to expand and become a fivesome; Dutkiewicz moved to guitar and former Aftershock drummer Tom Gomes filled in the vacant drummer position. After Leach was married on April 20, 2002 and began touring again he fell into a depression. Leach left the band a few days before the band was meant to play a show and sent the band members an e-mail telling them he had quit. D'Antonio said in an interview that "after three years of hanging out with the dude, and considering him a brother, to just get an email was a little bit harsh."

The band immediately started to search for a replacement vocalist and found Howard Jones ofBlood Has Been Shed. Jones disliked the band's sound when he first heard it. He commented "I was like, ‘Meh.’ I come from hardcore and dirtier metal, and Killswitch sounded so clean. But the more I listened to it, I realized there’s some really good songs here". After hearing about Leach's vocal problems, Jones contacted the band and was accepted as the replacement. Philip Labonteof All That Remains tried out for lead vocals but lost to current vocalist Howard Jones. Without listening to the entire self-titled album or Alive or Just Breathing, Jones had to memorize seven songs for his debut at the 2002 Hellfest. he new lineup played on the Road Rage tour in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in 2002 with 36 Crazyfists and Five Pointe O. Touring continued through the New Year's Day, and in 2003 the first song to feature Jones, "When Darkness Falls", appeared on the soundtrack of the 2003 horror film Freddy vs. Jason. Following the 2003 Ozzfest, drummer Gomes left the band because he wished to spend more time with his wife, to pursue his band Something of a Silhouette, and because he was tired of touring. He was replaced by Justin Foley of Blood Has Been Shed, and Foley's first tour with the band was the MTV2 Headbangers Ball in 2003.

The End of Heartache (2004–2006)

The End of Heartache was released on May 11, 2004, and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 sales in its first week, and it also peaked at number 39 on the Australian album chart. The album went on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the U.S and was certified gold on December 7, 2007. The album received mostly positive reviews, with Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stonecalling the album a "stunning collection, retaining much of their signature musical brutality". Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusiccommented "riff upon riffs are piled sky-high into each number that follows, it's the unpredictable rhythmic shifts used to build and then relieve internal pressure that fuel the Killswitch Engage power source".

"The End of Heartache" became the main single for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and in 2005 the song was nominated in theBest Metal Performance in the 47th annual Grammy Awards. In late 2004, The End of Heartache was re-released as a special edition album, with a second disc featuring various live performances, a Japanese bonus track, and a re-recorded version of "Irreversal". During the summer of 2005, the band returned for Ozzfest, and on November 1, 2005, Alive or Just Breathing was re-released as part of Roadrunner Records' 25th anniversary. On November 22, 2005, the live DVD (Set This) World Ablaze was released, which contained a live concert at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts, an hour-long documentary, and all the band's music videos. The DVD was certified gold in the U.S. on April 8, 2006.

As Daylight Dies (2006–2008)

Killswitch Engage played the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006, having already played Australian dates without Dutkiewicz, who was suffering from back problems and needed corrective surgery. On May 23, 2006, the song "This Fire Burns" was released on the WWE Wreckless Intent album. The track was intended to be the new theme song for WWE superstar Randy Orton; however, it was scrapped and later became the theme song for the WWE Judgment Day 2006 pay-per-view. "This Fire Burns" is currently used as the entrance theme for WWE Raw superstar, CM Punk and was later re-released as "This Fire" on the As Daylight Dies Special Edition. Recorded in three months, As Daylight Dies was released on November 21, 2006 and peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with 60,000 sales in its first week. "As Daylight Dies" proved to be one of their biggest albums yet. It also entered the Australia album chart at number 29. Mixed by Dutkiewicz, the album received mostly positive reviews—Thom Jurek ofAllmusic called it "a Top Five metal candidate for 2006 for sure". Decibel Magazine contributor Nick Terry said "To call As Daylight Dies addictive would be an understatement. That it outdoes its already impressive enough predecessor could almost go without saying". Cosmo Lee of Stylus Magazine commented "the album is astonishingly badly sequenced", even though it praised the album as being "less emotionally heavy-handed, and a lot more fun". As of November 27, 2007, As Daylight Dies has sold more than 500,000 units in the United States.

The album's first single, "My Curse", peaked at number 21 on the Hot Mainstream Rock chart, and is featured in the video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Burnout Paradise and is available as downloadable content for Rock Band and Rock Band 2. "The Arms of Sorrow" peaked at number 31 on the same chart. The band's cover of Dio's "Holy Diver", originally recorded for a Kerrang! compilation album titled High Voltage, peaked at number 12 on the Mainstream Rock charts. Early in 2007, the band had to cancel three of its European tour dates with The Haunted due to Dutkiewicz's back problems. He required emergency back surgery and was replaced on the tour by Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers.

Due to Dutkiewicz's back problems in early 2007, he was replaced by Damageplan and The Mercy Clinic frontman Patrick Lachmanduring the No Fear Tour. Dutkiewicz recovered and was able to finish the No Fear tour, and the band began filming its video for As Daylight Dies's second single, "The Arms of Sorrow". On August 6, 2007, Dutkiewicz was forced to leave the Warped Tour so he could fully recover from his back surgery and continue daily physical therapy. He was replaced by Killswitch's guitar technician Josh Mihlek for select songs, until his return on August 14, 2007.

Self-titled fifth album (2008–2010)

Killswitch Engage entered the studio in October 2008 to start recording their next album with Dutkiewicz and Brendan O'Brien co-producing the album. In mid-February, bassist Mike D'Antonio confirmed in an interview with Metal Hammer that "drums were finished", and that he had “finished up the last few bass fixes". He also stated that Howard [Jones] is in Atlanta finishing vocals, and that "it shouldn’t be too much longer now.” From March to May, Killswitch Engage was a part of Disturbed's Music as a Weapon IV festival along with Lacuna Coil, Chimaira, Suicide Silence, Bury Your Dead and more. On April 14, the band announced the name of their album as Killswitch Engage, the second time the band has self-titled the name of their album. The album was released on June 30, 2009, debuting at #7 on the Billboard 200, marking the band's highest chart position for an album. In July and August, Killswitch Engage took part in Mayhem Festival with headliners Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Bullet for My Valentineand others. In February 2010, Killswitch Engage announced that vocalist Howard Jones would not be performing with Killswitch Engage during their winter tour with The Devil Wears Prada andDark Tranquillity; during the time, All That Remains vocalist, Philip Labonte was substituting for Jones until he could return. At least one source speculates that Jones departure was due to back pain. On March 18, 2010, original vocalist Jesse Leach returned to the band for a series of songs. From then on, Leach and Labonte performed as substitute vocalists for the remainder of the tour.

In 2010, they contributed the track "My Obsession" to the God of War: Blood & Metal soundtrack.

The band was later added as late replacement to 2010's Download Festival in June, after original sub-headliner, Wolfmother could not attend as scheduled.

Killswitch Engage is currently working on their sixth album for release late 2011.

Musical style and lyrical themes

Killswitch Engage's genre is largely considered metalcore or melodic metalcore, combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore. Like many metalcore bands, Killswitch Engage incorporates both singing and screaming vocals in their music. In 2009, MTV, while naming "The Greatest Metal Bands of All Time" referred to Killswitch Engage as "one of the founders of metalcore". Jason D. Taylor of Allmusic said Alive or Just Breathing is "a pure metal album that seemingly has ignored any fashionable trend and instead relies solely on skill and expertise to sculpt some of the meatiest heavy metal since the glory days of Metallica and Slayer."

Both former vocalist Jesse Leach and vocalist Howard Jones write lyrics that are considered to be positive. Jesse Leach stated on (Set This) World Ablaze, that the lyrics contain "unity, positivity, [and] love." On the lyrical themes ofKillswitch Engage, Ultimate Guitar reviewer Amy Sciarretto notes:

"[Howard Jones] has come into his own since 2004’s The End of Heartache, and he continues to hit the notes, wax about relationships, faith-issues and other relatable issue on this second self-titled effort."

On Killswitch Engage's 2009 release, Howard Jones states the change in lyrical themes:

"I've got enough to draw on to write some stuff that can be dark. Maybe there's still a hint of positivity in it, but there are some songs on there that are not positive at all."

Band members

Current members Howard Jones – lead vocals (2002–present)   Adam Dutkiewicz lead guitar, backing vocals(2002–present), drums(1999–2002)   Mike D'Antonio bass guitar(1999–present)   Joel Stroetzel rhythm guitar (2002–present)lead guitar (1999–2002)   Justin Foley drums(2003–present)

Former members Jesse Leach – lead vocals (1999–2002) Tom Gomes – drums, percussion (2002–2003) Pete Cortese - guitar (2000–2001) Touring Patrick Lachman – guitar (2007) Josh Mihlek – guitar (2007) Phil Labonte – lead vocals (Feb-May 2010) Jesse Leach - lead vocals (Mar-May 2010)

" Lamb Of God " My Influence Forever

Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994, the group consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler. The band is considered to be a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.
Since its formation, Lamb of God has released six studio albums, one live album, one compilation album and three DVDs. The band's cumulative sales equal almost two million in the United States. In 2007 the band received a Grammy nomination for their 2006 album Sacrament.

Lamb of God has toured with the Ozzfest twice and appeared on Slayer's The Unholy Alliance Tour in 2006. They have also played at many other major festivals around the world including Download Festival and Sonisphere Festival in the UK, Soundwave Festival and Gigantour (headlined by Megadeth). Recently, (2008–2010) they have toured with Metallica (World Magnetic Tour). Lamb of God also played on the main stage on Mayhem Festival 2010. The band is currently recording their next album, which is tentatively due in late 2011/early 2012.

History

Formation and Burn the Priest (1994–1999)

In 1990, guitarist Mark Morton, drummer Chris Adler and bassist John Campbell started a band named Burn The Priest. The band members knew each other from the college they were all attending, Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia. Morton left the band soon after its inception to receive his master's degree. Adler and Campbell replaced Morton with Abe Spear. For the next five years, the band practiced in Richmond and around Virginia. In 1995, the band released its self-titled first demo. After the demo, Burn the Priest recorded two split albums with Agents of Satan and ZED respectively. After the band's first three demos, Burn the Priest added vocalist Randall Blythe to its line up.

In 1997, Morton returned to the band. Two years later, the band released its first full-length self-titled album, Burn the Priest, through Legion Records. Mikey Bronsnan of Legion Records saved up $2,500 for the recording and then broke them in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania through DIY shows. The album was produced by Today Is the Day guitarist and vocalist Steve Austin. Spear left the band, leaving an open position for a guitarist. Chris Adler's brother, Willie Adler, became the band's second guitarist a year later, and a deal with Prosthetic Records was signed. After being banned from playing in certain places (some venue owners believing the band possessed an "evil" name), Burn the Priest changed their name to Lamb of God.

New American Gospel and As the Palaces Burn (2000–2003)

With a new name and label, the band released its second album, New American Gospel, in September 2000. Patrick Kennedy of Allmusic compared the band to Pantera stating, "The essential signatures of post-Pantera metal are in abundance on Lamb of God's inaugural album. New American Gospel provides a mighty oak upon which gritty American metal's faith is maintained, effectively bridging the '90s' insistence upon drill-sergeant technicality and the old school's determined focus on riff construction." Chris Adler commented: "This is a classic record. We had all the elements come together to make one of the heaviest, yet contagious records of our career. It was difficult to contain us—we didn't even understand at the time what we had created."
Lamb of God toured for two years before releasing their third studio album, As the Palaces Burn, on May 6, 2003. Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, writing that "unlike many of their overreaching, Slipknot-influenced contemporaries, Lamb of God deliver a meticulously crafted metal assault." The album was voted the number one album of 2003 by both Revolver Magazine and Metal Hammer. The band toured on the first Headbangers Ball tour, where they recorded a DVD including live performances and a documentary, titled Terror and Hubris. The DVD was a success, debuting at number 31 on the Billboard Top Music Videos chart.

Ashes of the Wake (2004–2005)

Lamb of God released Ashes of the Wake in August 2004, which debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200, and sold over 35,000 copies in its first week. The album was distributed through the band's new record label, Epic Records. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic praised the album, saying "With the genre getting clogged by PVC goofs and Alice in Chains impersonators, Lamb of God balances the equation of power, rage, tradition, and craft. It kills the filler." The title track of the album featured Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and ex–Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland.
The band supported Ashes of the Wake with extensive touring, including a second stage slot on Ozzfest in 2004, and the 2005 Sounds of the Underground tour. The band was awarded 2nd Best Album of the Year by Revolver magazine behind Mastodon's Leviathan, and was awarded Best Music Video for "Laid to Rest" (2005). While on tour, the band recorded a performance and released it with the name of Killadelphia. The release was made available as a DVD and a CD. The DVD was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2007.
In 2006, the first single from the album, "Laid to Rest", was featured as a playable track in Guitar Hero II[4] and rereleased for Guitar Hero Smash Hits in 2009. It was later used as downloadable content for Rock Band

Sacrament (2005–2007)

In August 2006 Lamb of God released its fifth studio album, Sacrament. The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 and sold nearly 65,000 copies in its first week of sales, nearly doubling the first week sales of Ashes of the Wake. The album received generally positive reviews, with Cosmo Lee of Stylus Magazine stating, "Sacrament has the band's most memorable songs to date. Musically, there's no fat. The band plays with laser precision and songs move smoothly through riffs and transitions." Ed Thompson of IGN referred to Sacrament "one of the best metal albums of 2006", and Jon Pareles of Blender called it a "speed rush all the way through".
The band appeared on major tours to support the album, including The Unholy Alliance with Slayer, Mastodon, Children of Bodom, and Thine Eyes Bleed, Gigantour, supporting Megadeth; main stage at Ozzfest; an appearance at the Download Festival, and an exclusive co-headlining tour with Killswitch Engage, Soilwork, and DevilDriver, where Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God shared headlining spots alternately each show. Lamb of God was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards for "Redneck", but lost out to Slayer's "Eyes of the Insane".
In December 2007, the band re-released the album as Sacrament: Deluxe Producer Edition. The release contained all of the original songs from Sacrament on the first disc, and the second disc was a CD-ROM featuring all of the vocal, bass, guitar, and drum tracks in 192kbit/s MP3 format, enabling the buyer to produce their own interpretation of the songs. Blythe stated, "you sometimes have to do something special to get kids to even buy an album these days rather than download it." The band is taking a break to write new material throughout 2008 and prepare a new record for release, slated for 2009. The band is negotiating for a new record label to distribute records outside the United States. Chris Adler stated Epic Records in the United States "couldn't be more perfect", but wants a different label for international releases. The band later inked a deal with Roadrunner on 1 May 2008 for distribution outside the United States.

Walk with Me in Hell and Wrath (2008–2009)

On May 3, Lamb of God announced via MySpace their new DVD, Walk with Me in Hell, would be released on July 1, 2008. The DVD is a double-disc and has nearly five hours of footage, containing the feature documentary Walk with Me in Hell and multiple live performance extras from the Sacrament World Tour. At the end of the Walk with Me in Hell documentary the members stated that they are excited more than ever to write new material. 'Walk With Me In Hell', the third DVD from Richmond, VA's metal icons LAMB OF GOD, has officially reached platinum status.
In August, 2008, it was announced, by studio producer Cole Higley, that the band had commenced work on the follow-up to Sacrament, and that its release was scheduled for February, 2009. Josh Wilbur was also named as the producer for the record. They will also be touring with Metallica as a direct support act starting in December 2008.
The recording process of the new record was made available to view online live through the band's website, with two webcams installed in the studio (specifically in the drum room and mixing room).
Their latest album is named Wrath and was released on February 23, 2009 internationally via Roadrunner Records and on February 24, 2009 in America via Epic Records. The album is dedicated to Mikey Bronsnan, who helped them get started in Philadelphia, PA. In November 2008, Bronsnan was killed by a drunk driver. According to drummer Chris Adler, "Without Mikey, we'd very well might not be a band today." Drummer Chris Adler was quoted saying "This album is going to surprise a lot of people. 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 24 you will feel it." With that said, "Wrath" debuted on the Billboard 200 at number two, selling over 68,000 copies in its first week.
In support of Wrath, the band in spring of 2009 embarked on the first leg of their world tour, No Fear Energy Tour headlined by themselves with main support from Children of Bodom and As I Lay Dying, and rotating opening slots with God Forbid and Municipal Waste. The tour was a massive success for the band with rave reviews and large turnouts at each show. The band played in Europe in the summer to perform with Metallica on the World Magnetic Tour along with Mastodon, while also playing headlining shows of their own and performing at major European festivals. For the final six dates of the tour, Unearth's Buz McGrath filled in for Mark Morton, as he left early to be with his wife and his first child.
Lamb of God has been announced to also serve as Metallica's direct support for the North American leg of their 2009 world tour, as well as finishing the year off by headlining shows in Australia and New Zealand with Shadows Fall and DevilDriver.

Festival Performances, "Hit the Wall" and next album (2010 onward)

Lamb of God was on the 2010 Mayhem Festival on the Main Stage alongside Korn, Rob Zombie, and Five Finger Death Punch. Paul Waggoner, guitarist for Between the Buried and Me, filled in for Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton during Mayhem Fest.
Lamb of God was nominated for a Grammy in 2010 for the Best Metal Performance category for "Set To Fail", but lost out to Judas Priest.
Lamb of God played the Download Festival 2010 after being confirmed via the official Download Festival website at 00.30 on February 16, 2010. It was their third appearance at Download Festival.
Lamb of God performed for the first time in the Philippines for the annual PULP Summer Slam on April 17, 2010 with thrash metal band Testament. The band also played in India for the first time on May 15, 2010, headlining the Summer Storm festival in Bangalore. They played for their Turkish fans at Kucukciftlik Park, Istanbul, on May 17.
On April 19, 2010, IGN released a 'making of' video that features Lamb of God working on their next single, "Hit the Wall", which is available as Internet download, without vocals here. The single is featured in the Iron Man 2 video game.
Lamb of God was announced as one band (the other being Baroness) to support Metallica on their Australian tour in late 2010.
In a September 2010 interview, drummer Chris Adler mentioned that Lamb of God will enter the studio in February 2011 to begin work on a seventh album. In November, Chris also mentioned that the band will work with producer Josh Wilbur again.
In 2010, the band was confirmed as being part of the soundtrack for Namco Bandai Games' 2010 remake of Splatterhouse.
The band was nominated for a Grammy in 2011 for "In Your Words" at the 53rd Grammy Awards but lost to Iron Maiden.
Lamb of God released the single "Hit the Wall" as a digital download in the US on Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

Musical style and lyrical themes

Lamb of God was originally an instrumental band called Burn the Priest, and included vocals after Randy Blythe joined. Since the success of the release of 2004's Ashes of the Wake^[45][46] the band has been considered a leader of the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal".^[1]

Burn the Priest and early Lamb of God has been defined as a thrash metal, death metal and hardcore punk or grindcore hybrid with a strong element of power groove, which often connects Lamb of God with the influential metal band Pantera. Another connection between Pantera and Lamb of God is the fact that both were and are highly influential metal bands from the Southern United States, Texas and Virginia, respectively. Lamb of God could currently be helping to strengthen a young tradition of great southern metal that was first pioneered by Pantera. Burn the Priest and early Lamb of God include growling death metal vocals. The style has been considered to vary between several different genres, including hardcore punk, thrash metal, and even possessing sludge metal influences.
New American Gospel continues in a similar style as Burn the Priest, with drum-heavy production of alternate picking and double-kick drumming. Here, the band has been considered by Allmusic to be effectively bridging the 1990s' tendency towards technicality and early metal's focus on riff construction and plays a brand of heavy metal described as not unlike Meshuggah without some of their mathematical components.
2003's As the Palaces Burn saw the band's compositions focusing more on what some have called "memorable" riffs. On 2004's Ashes of the Wake, they continued the progression of As the Palaces Burn with more frequent guitar solos.
Sacrament, released in 2006, was described by critics as more technical, especially considering the vocal performance. Again, the band experimented with more melody and guitar solos; however, the band has also been often reproached by the critics for the similarity of the songs within their albums.
2009's Wrath focused on the increased groove metal substance explored in Sacrament. However, this release contained increased tempos and fewer guitar solos. It also included more clean guitar, such as on the songs "The Passing", "Grace", and "Reclamation".
Due to the variety of influences, stylistic elements and changes throughout the band's career the press has chosen several genres and terms to describe Lamb of God's music. Lamb of God has been labeled as a groove metal and thrash metal band. Campbell, on the Walk With Me in Hell DVD, says that Lamb of God is "a punk band that plays heavy metal", while Chris Adler refers to Sacrament as a speed metal album.

Lyrical themes

The lyrical themes of the band often have a double meaning. They frequently use biblical references, but often convey anti-religious sentiment, as in Sacrament's 'Blacken the Cursed Sun'. Many of their songs have political themes, especially in the albums As the Palaces Burn and Ashes of the Wake. The band also has many misanthropic and/or apocalyptic songs, such as "Reclamation". The song "Omerta" from the album Ashes of the Wake talks about the Italian Mafia law of silence: omertà. The Ashes of the Wake album featured many songs critical of the war in Iraq, such as "Hourglass" and the instrumental title track. Though an instrumental, this song makes use of two audio recordings of former staff sergeant and former Marine Jimmy Massey giving an interview about the war. Lyrical themes that the band frequently explores are hypocrisy and other faults in the personality, particularly on songs such as "Choke Sermon" and "Pathetic".

Members

Current Chris Adler – drums (1994-) Willie Adler – guitar (1998–) Randy Blythe – vocals (1995–) John Campbell – bass (1994-) Mark Morton – guitar (1994-)

Former Abe Spear – guitar (1994–1998)

Discography

Main article: Lamb of God discography

Studio albums

• Burn the Priest (1999)
• New American Gospel (2000)
• As the Palaces Burn (2003)
• Ashes of the Wake (2004)
• Sacrament (2006)
• Wrath (2009)