Lamb of God

Richmond, Virginia has produced few heavy metal acts with as much staying power as Lamb of God. Formed in 1994 as Burn the Priest, the group is regarded as a significant part of the new wave of American heavy metal, and its line-up of bassist John Campbell, vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler and drummer Art Cruz has carried it through twelve studio albums. Counted alongside Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold and System of a Down, they are often placed among the Big Four of 2000s metal.

The band changed its name partly to avoid being mistaken for a satanic metal band, and its first album under the new title, New American Gospel, appeared in September 2000. As the Palaces Burn (2003) was voted the year's best album by Revolver and Metal Hammer, and Ashes of the Wake debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200 in 2004 before going gold in 2016. Grammy nominations followed for songs from Wrath in 2010 and 2011, and the group's most recent release, Into Oblivion, arrived in March 2026.