Lamb of God

The groove-metallers formed in 1994, under the name Burn the Priest. The band decided to change their name in late 1999 to avoid being mistaken for a satanic metal band - wise move! After several line-up changes, the band currently comprises of Randy Blythe (vocals), Mark Morton (guitar), Willie Adler (guitar), John Campbell (bass) and Chris Adler (drums). The band have been compared to Pantera, Testament and described as “the leaders of the pack” of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal Movement which includes bands such as Biohazard, Slipknot and Machine Head. Bassist John Campbell has described the band as “a punk band that plays heavy metal”.

In 2000, Lamb of God released their first album under their new name, entitled “New American Gospel”, which was met with positive reviews. Following in 2003 was “As the Palaces Burn”, which was swiftly followed in 2004 by “Ashes of the Wake”, now under new record label Epic Records. It was their highest grossing album up to that point, selling over 35,000 copies in its first week and debuting at number 27 on the Billboard 200 in the US. “Laid to Rest” is the most well-known song from the album, due in part to its appearance in the videogame “Guitar Hero 2” as a playable track.

Lamb of God released their fifth album “Sacrament” in August 2006, which was met with rave reviews from critics and debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200. The band appeared on several major tours in support of the album, including “The Unholy Alliance” tour with Slayer, Mastodon and Children of Bodom, a co-headline tour with Killswitch Engage, Soilwork and DevilDriver and Gigantour, supporting Megadeth. They also played the main stage at Ozzfest and at Download Festival. In 2009, the band released their sixth album “Wrath” under yet another new record label, Roadrunner Records. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200. During this time, the band were touring the world as first support to Metallica.

Songs by Lamb of God have frequently appeared in films and videogames, including “Hit the Wall” which was featured in the Iron Man 2 and Splatterhouse games. “Walk with Me in Hell” is featured on the soundtrack for the film Saw III. The band has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance, the first in 2010 when they lost out to Judas Priest and again in 2011, losing this time to Iron Maiden.

The band released their seventh album “Resolution” in 2012 and also released a documentary entitled “As The Palaces Burn” which were both met with positive reviews.

Jesper Strömblad founded the Swedish group alongside another band he was part of. In 1993, Strömblad decided to dedicate all of his time to In Flames. That same year Glenn Ljungström on guitar and Johan Larsson on bass guitar joined for the first In Flames line up.

Their first album was released in 1994 called 'Lunar Strain'. The trio had to use different singers to help out, as they didn't have a lead vocalist. But in 1995 they got Björn Gelotte to join the band as a drummer, and Anders Fridén as their full time vocalist. The official one-piece metal band was born.

Their music uses harmonized lead guitar melodies and screamed/ growled vocals. On Soundtrack to Your Escape, the band used less guitar melodies so they were able to incorporate more synths, but this seemed to be only a short phase in their music. In Flames' lyrics have varied over the years as well. In some of their releases like 'The Jester Race', they seemed to talk about astrology and mankind. But in later albums such as 'Come Clarity' the band specifically sang about their personal issues and life problems.

In Flames were big influences to many metal bands. Darkest Hour, Slowlife and Trivium are amongst the few that name In Flames as a huge influence on their melodic death metal style.