The 25 Best Metal Bands of All Time, #25: Lamb of God (29 Votes, 277 Points)
MetalSucks recently polled over a hundred of metal’s most revered musicians, critics, journalists, artists, publicists, and industry insiders to find out which 25 bands represent the very BEST in the history of metal. Today we kick-off the countdown with Richmond, VA’s…
Lamb of God
29 Votes
277 Points
Fame is fickle, and tragedy trumps all. In Lamb of God’s case, you can spend well over a decade putting out seven records of some the most commercially successful heavy music since Pantera, but no blog will ever write about the band again without mentioning singer Randy Blythe’s 2012 incarceration in the Czech Republic on a manslaughter charge. Apparently, MetalSucks is no different, but let’s consider that elephant dealt with, shall we?
That twin guitar attack set to a funky, relentless groove. That volcano-voiced singer. On paper, we could be describing any number of metal bands. But fire up any LoG track and you immediately know the card-carrying New Wave of American Heavy Metal band when you hear them. How can that be, when you’re basically dealing with the same component parts that comprise so many metal band? How can you fit the same ol’ pieces together and still make something unique?
That sonic signature is in no small part owed to drummer Chris Adler’s relentless style, punctuating every riff while keeping enough space for each song to have its own rhythmic personality. One gets the feeling his bag of tricks is fully stocked, yet he somehow instinctually knows when to pull from it and when to play tastefully. Duder fits so much into each song, yet you can still fit your fingers in the spaces. That’s magic.
The guy has something like thirteen goddamn cymbals on his kit, and they’re not there just to compensate for a small prick. They’re there to be played. Adler uses each of his bajillion drums and cymbals to color each song with its own aural intricacies and layers. It’s the closest thing to a melody a drum set is ever going to produce. That said, it bears mentioning that he’s funky as funk. You listen to heavy metal to get your ass kicked, but LoG gives you plenty of chances to shake that ass, as well. They aren’t the heirs to Pantera’s groove metal throne for no reason.
What’s to be said about guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler and bassist John Campbell that can’t be summed up in saying that they’re relentless riff machines? Pew pew pew!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTR5bVBa9ss
Together, the instrumental components of the band are tight as a noose. Enter Blythe. There’s a lotta screamers out there. There’s no shortage of growlers in the metal scene. But none have the versatility and unique vocal cadence that Randy Blythe’s rusty pipes do, and it takes his band from well-oiled groove machine to top tier, Billboard-charting metal mongers. I had a roommate in college, back before I really knew anything about music that utilized harsh vocals, who played metal from his shitty laptop ad nauseum. Most of it sounded the same to my virgin ears. But I could always identify Lamb of God when Blythe would bite into the track, even over the tinny little speakers of my roomie’s bargain HP.
In that track alone, Blythe affects no less than four, FOUR, unique singing/screaming styles. And those screams vary so widely in their range and ferocity that you’d think he was being chased by hellhounds (and they’re gaining on him). Or perhaps he’s the hellhound? His voice is a tidal wave, ebbing and flowing in parts yet still maintaining its destructive fury as he delivers lines with unrelenting conviction. That conviction even helps sell some of his more minor lyrics, which would have sunk like a rock delivered by a lesser front man. Lyrically, he tends to stick to what he knows and loathes — that is, politics and religion. Simple but expressive, angry and aggressive.
I saw Lamb of God headline a show with Killswitch Engage late last year on one of their first tours since Blythe was freed from his incarceration. The boys, having walked through hell (sorry, had to) for so long, hadn’t missed a step. They haven’t softened, even with band members now well into their 40s, complete with families and (probably) mortgages. In fact, one of the main criticisms leveled against them is that they haven’t changed ENOUGH. Dry those tears. Of course, there are also those fans who take the opposite stance. A band of this size is always gonna have a portion of their fan base shrieking for a return to their interpretation of the band’s salad days. Yes, the albums have gotten slicker. Perhaps you prefer the original version of As The Palaces Burn to the shined up remix that was released last year. Yes, Blithe has slowly added softer vocal inflections to the music. They paint with a few more colors in their paint box than they used to, but don’t confuse that for them having lightened up. If and when Lamb of God graces us with their eight studio release, you’re gonna know what to expect. Metal game strong, boys. Metal game strong.
THE ILLUSTRIOUS PANEL OF VOTERS:
Chris Alfano – East of the Wall, Gear Gods
Paul Allender – White Empress, ex-Cradle of Filth
Rob Arnold – The Elite, ex-Chimaira, ex-Six Feet Under
Alan Averill (aka A.A. Nemtheanga) – Primordial
Chuck B.B. – Artist
Matt Bachand – Shadows Fall
Micke Berg – Below
Chuck Billy – Testament
Randy Blythe – Lamb of God
Paul Booth – Last Rites Tattoo and Art Gallery
Jake Bowen – Periphery
Terry Butler – Obituary
Liz Ciavarella-Brenner – Publicist, Earsplit PR
Blake Charlton – Ramming Speed
Richard Christy – Charred Walls of the Damned, ex-Death, ex-Iced Earth, ex-Control Denied, The Howard Stern Show
Monte Conner – President, Nuclear Blast Entertainment
Bruce Corbitt – Rigor Mortis, Warbeast
Doc Coyle – ex-God Forbid
Sergeant D. – MetalSucks, Stuff You Will Hate
Topon Das – Fuck the Facts, Merdarahta
Anso DF – MetalSucks
Peter Dolving – Rosvo, ex-The Haunted
Ryan J. Downey – Superhero Artist Management
Sacha Dunable – Intronaut, Bereft, Dunable Guitars
Vince Edwards – Head of Publicity, Metal Blade Records
Excretakano – MetalSucks
Exmortus
Extreme Management Group
D.X. Ferris – Slayer Scholar
Ryan Fleming – Black Table
Jon Freeman – Publicist, Freeman Promotions
Matthew Friesen – Culted
Ville Friman – Insomnium
Mike Gitter – Senior Director of A&R, Razor & Tie
Frank Godla – Metal Injection, Meek is Murder
Mike Greene – Director of Digital Marketing, Razor & Tie
Shane Handel – Set and Setting
Jeff Hodak – Head of Sales, Razor & Tie
Terence Hannum – Locrian
John Hoffman – Weekend Nachos
Mark Hunter – ex-Chimaira
Don Jamieson – That Metal Show
Daniel Jansson – Culted
John Jarvis – Pig Destroyer, Fulgora
Gaz Jennings – Death Penalty, ex-Cathedral
Patrik Jensen – The Haunted
Rick Jimenez – Extinction A.D.
Kassa – Below
Mirai Kawashima – Sigh
“Grim” Kim Kelly – MetalSucks
Zeena Koda
Erik Kluiber – Gypsyhawk
Eyal Levi – Unstoppable Killing Machine, Dååth
Jason Lekberg – IKILLYA
Adam Lindmark – Morbus Chron
Ryan Lipynsky – Serpentine Path, Unearthly Trance, The Howling Wind
Jonah Livingston – Ramming Speed
Bob Lugowe – Director of Promotions/Marketing, Relapse Records, Brutal Panda Records
James Malone – Arsis, Necromancing the Stone
Jose Mangin – Director of Music Programming, Sirius XM Liquid Metal
Bobby Mansfield – 16
Misha Mansoor – Periphery
Morgan McGrath – Live Nation
Mike “Gunface” McKenzie – The Red Chord, Stomach Earth, Nightkin
Vince Neilstein – MetalSucks
Eventansvarig Biostaden Nyköping – Below
Chris Ojeda – Byzantine
Casey Orr – Rigor Mortis, Warbeast
Rob Pasbani – Metal Injection
Anders Persson – Portrait
Chris Pervelis – Internal Bleeding
Karim Peter – Artist Relations, IndieMerchandising
Raphael Pinsker – Booking Agent, 3Thirteen Entertainment Group
Polar
Markus “Rabapagan” – Metsatöll
Josh Rand – Stone Sour
Emperor Rhombus – MetalSucks
Gus Rios – Gruesome
Tobias Rosén – Noctum
Axl Rosenberg – MetalSucks
Travis Ryan – Cattle Decapitation, Murder Construct, Nader Sadek
Saturn
Marc Schapiro, Branch Marketing Collective
Zach Shaw – The Syndicate
Patrick Sheridan – Fit For An Autopsy
Alex Skolnick – Testament
Brian Slagel – Chairman/CEO, Metal Blade Records
Mark Solotroff – Anatomy of Habit, Bloodlust!, BLOODYMINDED
Steve “Zetro” Souza – Exodus, Hatriot
Kevin Stewart-Panko – Decibel, MetalSucks
Black String – Vampire
Jason Suecof – Audiohammer Studios
Bram Teitelman – Metal Insider
Nick Tieder – No Jacket Required Marketing, Indegoot
Tone Deaf Touring
Aaron Turner – Old Man Gloom, ex-ISIS, Hydra Head Records
Brody Uttley – Rivers of Nihil
George Vallee – Head of Publicity, Street Smart Marketing
Dirk Verbeuren – Soilwork, Bent Sea, Scarve
Jens Vestergren – Below
Jake Wade – Columns
Kelly Walsh – Publicist, Prosthetic Records
Mike Wohlberg – The Fat Kid Illustration
Wookubus – The PRP
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