“IT WAS REAL OLD-SCHOOL ROCK ’N’ ROLL, MAN. JUST THE WHOLE BAND IN THERE, GETTING MIC’D UP”
—WILLIE ADLER
FROM THEIR NASCENT
days in the early aughts to the present day, Lamb of God have been a consistently breathtaking live band. In addition to featuring one of the most volatile, energetic frontmen, Randy Blythe, the quintet is exceptionally tight, and their post-thrash songs are technical, yet accessible, propelled by the complementary, but stylistically different, tones and playing styles of guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler. Having toured steadily since 1994, they finessed their chemistry on the road, retaining their following and gaining new acolytes on package tours and at countless headline shows.
Realizing their strong stage presence was a major selling point, Lamb of God released three live DVDs, Terror and Hubris in 2004, Killadelphia in 2005 and the double-disc set Walk with Me in Hell in 2008. In 2020, the band performed two live streams, one for their 2004 album Ashes of the Wake and the other for the 2020 self-titled record they had been touring for when the world went into lockdown. The live songs from the latter were included on an expanded CD/DVD edition of Lamb of God, which came out in March 2021.
“We love playing shows, and we know how good and tight we can be and how connected we can feel performing together,” Morton says from his home in Richmond, Virginia. “Over the years we’ve developed the confidence to win over crowds, even when they’re not all there just to see you. And that’s a powerful thing — having people sharing that experience with you.”
In an effort to capitalize on their strength as a live band and put a new spin on their sound, Lamb of God recorded much of their ninth original studio album,, live in the studio with and producing their last four albums. The band began their first of two pre-production sessions at a rented house in Virginia Beach in February 2021, less than a year after the release of their self-titled album. While Morton and other band members were excited to have something productive to do during lockdown, Adler wasn’t so thrilled about returning to writing mode.
