Lamb of God, Black Label Society, and Down

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.

When Zakk Wylde formed the band after his long run being Ozzy Osbourne’s right hand man, he formed a southern rock band called Pride & Glory… and then Osbourne decided that he wanted to record another album, so he did, in the form of an album called “Ozzmosis”. It was around this time that Wylde was also offered not only the “Ozzmosis” tour with Osbourne but also a slot in the line up of Guns N’ Roses tour in 1995. As neither of those projects materialised, Wylde decided to finally record his solo acoustic album entitled “Book of Shadows” which unfortunately didn’t achieve the commercial success he had hoped.

Out of this phase only came good things when Wylde teamed up with drummer Phil Ondich and formed Black Label Society. It was this then side project that became Zakk Wyldes commercially successful freight train of a band releasing nine studio albums to date, with their two most recent releases, “Order of the Black” released on August 10th 2010 made it to number 4 in the US charts and “Catacombs of the Black Vatican” released on April 8th 2014 went to number 5 in the US charts, securing Black Label Society’s place in the mainstream.

Down is a band that has been made up of members of Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Goatwhore and Eyehategod during their career. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that based on that pedigree alone, Down’s music must be heavy like an osmium elephant, right? Well, you’d be wrong. Strangely enough the band play ukulele lead folk pop inspired by the children’s stories they read to their… yeah, I’m kidding, they play the heaviest of heavy metal.

The band begun in 1991, formed by Phil Anselmo of Pantera on vocals, Corrosion of Conformity’s Pepper Keenan playing guitar, Crowbar’s Todd Strange and Kirk Windstein on guitar and bass respectively, and was rounded off by Eyehategod’s Jimmy Bower on the drums. The band was named after the fact that the members could only play together when the bands they played in normally were on their *down*time. It’s clever, y’see?

Also clever was how the band first spread the word about themselves. After making a three track demo tape, the band would ask metal fans if they’d ever heard of “this band, Down?” and hand them the tape when they said no. Of course, this was done without ever actually telling them that they were in the band themselves. Needless to say, it worked, the band played a single show in their home town of New Orleans, and were signed to Elektra Records immediately afterwards.

“NOLA”, the band’s debut album, was released in 1995 and was an instant critical and commercial success, but the band couldn’t capitalise on the album’s success with more than a 13 date US tour before returning to their main bands soon afterwards. The band returned in 2001 with a hastily put together second record titled “Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow”. The album wasn’t anywhere near as well received as its predecessor but it did allow the band to tour with the 2002 Ozzfest show, however once that was over, so was the band. Or so the world thought.

Between 2002 and 2006, both Pantera and Corrosion of Conformity split up, Anselmo’s former bandmate Dimebag Darrel Abbot was shot and killed onstage, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the bands home town of New Orleans and Anselmo himself recovered from back surgery and crippling drug addiction. Needless to say, the album that these events fuelled, “Down III: Over the Under”, is pretty amazing, widely regarded as the bands best effort.

It also meant that the key members of the band could now put as much effort into Down as they pleased. Since then they’ve released their fourth album as a set of two E.P’s, toured the world and honed themselves into one of the metal world’s truly live acts. They’re at the top of their game to this day, and any metal fan would do well to see them live the next chance they get.

The group have certainly had their fair share of controversy over a 33-year period. Suicidal Tendencies have been thought of as a group who promoted violence through their quick-tempoed and aggressive sounding music and also rumours that claimed that some of the band members had gang connections. In 1981, Flipside awarded them their Worst Band Award, but S.T. were ironically voted the 'Best New Band' the following year by the same fanzine.

In a nine year period before the start of the nineties, Suicidal Tendencies released five albums including their self-titled first release, which received the plaudits of icons from the metal/punk genre. Since their inception, they have been known for their fast and furious music and often rowdy concerts. During the 1980's, the group were banned from playing shows in Los Angeles after fans destroyed the venue they were performing in.

After their two year break from music, Suicidal Tendencies returned with a completely new band line up and new sound. S.T have always experimented with different genres normally ranging between structured punk to the more hardcore thrash metal sound. The group are comfortable at catering for either genre and have gained a massive fanbase as a result.

Suicidal Tendencies have been influenced by many bands over the years including Anthrax (who have given them credit numerous times), Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Limp Bizkit. Their latest album, "13", was released on their own record label "Suicidal".