Lamb of God Burns the Priest

It’s an exciting time for Lamb of God and the modern metal masters’ fans. The band is touring this summer in direct support to Slayer on the latter’s farewell tour. The show hits the area on June 2 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

In addition to whipping metalheads into a frenzy onstage this summer Lamb of God is also revisiting its roots under its former band name, Burn the Priest. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut album - their sole release as Burn the Priest - the band just released a much-anticipated covers collection.

The Burn the Priest disc, “Legion: XX," was released last week and is dedicated to the hardcore/punk/crossover bands that influenced the Richmond, Va., group. It’s an extremely intense affair, with the band raging though ferocious versions of tracks by a who's who of influential punk and hardcore bands including The Accused, Bad Brains S.O.D., Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags.

Highlights include a breakneck take on The Accused’s “Inherit the Earth,” the twisting and slashing riffs on the Melvins “Honey Bucket” and signer Randy Blythe nailing H.R.’s inflections on Bad Brains' “I Against I.” Perhaps dearest to the band's heart is a shout out to fellow Richmond metalers, friends and influence Sliang Laos on “Axis Rot.”

What's very cool about this collection is that it will likely introduce the band's younger fans to groups they've never heard of and inspire them to explore those acts, much in the same way Metallica's "Garage Days Re-Revisited" did in 1987, introducing listeners to The Misfits and Diamond Head, among others.

We recently had the pleasure of talking to Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton.

Q. You’re putting out an album, “Legion: XX” that pays tribute to the band’s early influences when you were known as Burn the Priest. How did the idea come about?
We’ve kicked the idea around of doing a collection of covers over the years. We found ourselves now in this place where it was coming up on the 20th anniversary of the first Burn the Priest release. So that was on our radar and we were in a place in terms of our touring cycle and album cycle where we had a moment where we could do it. So we rallied around that moment of time where we could do it and just had a lot of fun with it.

Q. “Legion: XX” is not only a great album in itself but very cool in that it will likely expose a lot of your fans to bands they may not have heard of and inspire them to learn more.
That’s something we considered as well when we thought about doing this. I can't say that was necessarily the deciding factor but we were aware that this might be a platform for us to turn some of our fanbase onto bands they might not have been exposed to. Covering Sliang Laos (“Axis Rot”) was a really big one for me. They were a local Richmond band that started to put together a record deal but broke up before it came to fruition. They were a huge influence on us and to be able to take one of their songs and tip our hat to them was a really cool moment for me in the process of making this album.

Q. Will you be playing any of the songs from “Legion: XX” on the Slayer tour?
We’re kicking around some ideas on that. In fact we were just exchanging emails about it earlier today. I think we might be representing this Burn the Priest album a little bit on tour, which would be really exciting.

Q. Why did you decide to change the name of the band from Burn the Priest to Lamb of God?
We started as Burn the Priest in 1994. After about five years as Burn the Priest we were beginning to take it more seriously. We were about to make our second album and we didn’t feel like that name reflected how serious we were getting artistically. We knew that kind of name might pigeonhole us a little bit and we didn’t want to be constrained by anything like that. But it wasn’t because we thought if we changed the name we would become huge and play all over the world. We had no inclination that we would reach this level.

Q. You’re touring this summer with Slayer. What was your reaction when you found out that this would be their farewell tour? How have they influenced Lamb of God in general and you as a guitarist.
I aspire for Lamb of God to have the longevity and legacy Slayer has. They have a lot to be proud of. To have the discography they have and stay relevant through all the trends they’ve set a template. They never compromised, and I would say we haven't either.

From day one we’ve come up with songs that the five of us dig and endorse, and that’s where it stops. There’s no outside interference, and that’s been from the time we started in the basement to being on a major label. As far as influencing me as a guitarist, Slayer have put together some of the most iconic, classic, eternal riffs of all time. Slayer puts the riff first and that's what I try to do with my songwriting.

Q. Lamb of God’s last album was released three years ago. Do you plan to work on a new album soon?
I’m always writing. I’ve got some riffs and lyric ideas to propose, Willie (Adler) the other guitarist has a ton of riffs and I know [singer Randy Blythe] is constantly writing too. We haven’t had any official writing sessions as a band yet because we’ve been touring and then shifted focus to this Burn the Priest project. Once everything we’re doing now finishes up I’m sure we’ll shift gears into new Lamb of God stuff.