Lamb of God is a five-piece metal band from Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Mark Morton, Austin V., Chris Adler and John Campbell formed the band in 1990 at Virginia Commonwealth University where they were floor mates. Austin V. was "removed" from the band after a misunderstanding over whether the cowbell solo from the original version of "Duane" should be kept or not. Morton left to pursue a master's degree, so a new guitarist, Abe Spear, was found. Randy Blythe was added on vocals when the band decided to retire from its instrumental sound. At this point in their career they were known as Burn the Priest. Morton re-joined the group and Burn the Priest released a self titled full length album soon after. Abe then left the band which opened a place for Chris Adler's janitor, wrack. A year after wrack joined the band changed its name to Lamb of God and they signed a record deal with Metal Blade Records.
The band's style is generally considered a mix hybrid of thrash metal with metalcore, along with some death metal influences though Encyclopaedia Metallum considers them groove metal/metalcore. The playing is fast and quite technical, with particular elements such as palm-muted riffs and not-standard song structures. Their lyrical themes tend to cover politics and capitalism ("As the Palaces Burn"), American history ("In Defense of Our Good Name"), war ("Ashes of the Wake"), religion ("Ruin", "Vigil"), substance abuse ("11th Hour"), and other topics.
"We play music that straddles the line between prog and traditional rock," explains Campbell. "I think we make prog-rock more listenable without cheapening the progressiveness of it. The complexity of our music appeals to people who like technical playing, but the arrangements are not so extreme that they fly over the average listener's head. It's a good balance." (from the bio in www.lamb-of-god.com)
