“If all you pay attention to is catastrophe, then soon you will begin to see monsters everywhere you look.” – D. Randall Blythe
First New Album in Five Years, “Lamb Of God,” Due Out May 8
LAMB OF GOD has released the music video for “Memento Mori,” the opening track on their forthcoming self-titled album due May 8 via Epic Records. Fans were able to unlock a 10 second teaser of the song through an eerie Instagram Story filter released by the band over the weekend.
Executed from a narrative treatment written by vocalist D. Randall Blythe, the “Memento Mori” video features the band (guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, drummer Art Cruz, and Blythe) performing the unrelenting album opener from their upcoming self-titled new album (due May 8 worldwide). Lyrically and visually, the message of both the song and video are extremely topical, offering hope at a time of societal and personal upheaval.
“There is a vast amount of indisputably real and depressingly negative occurrences happening across the globe,” Blythe explains. “Currently, at the forefront of everyone’s mind is the global COVID-19 pandemic. This is a very real concern, and proper precautions need to be taken by EVERYONE in order to protect those most at risk – the elderly, infirm, and immunocompromised. It is indeed a scary time, but in this hyper-connected age with its 24/7 never-ending news cycle of atrocity, outrage and lurid click-bait headlines (not to mention ill-informed lunatics running amok and spreading misinformation and panic on social media), it is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that life is still carrying on, and good things do in fact still happen.”
“Months before the COVID-19 outbreak occurred, I wrote ‘Memento Mori’ as a reminder to myself to not be consumed by the omnipresent electronic harbingers of doom that surround us – cellphones, computers, and television screens. While these devices can be useful tools, and it is important to stay informed, it is equally important to remain engaged with the real, physical world we live in, not just digitally filtered representations of reality. I wrote the narrative music video treatment a few months ago to illustrate how warped and myopic our mental states can become when we fail to remain engaged with that reality – if all you pay attention to is catastrophe, then soon you will begin to see monsters everywhere you look. The actual monsters we used in the video are Sinisteria, a local Richmond, Virginia haunted house/dark performance troupe I met on the street at our annual Krampus Nacht parade. Richmond has a strong tradition of loud music and weird costumed monsters working hand in hand to make salient points (we are the birthplace of GWAR, after all), and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Music has always been there for me, raising my spirits during hard times, and it is my hope that this song’s positive message will do the same for fans of our music right now and beyond. The release date for the tune was set a good while ago, but the timing seems eerily prescient to me now. So enjoy the song and video, and then remember to step away from the screens for a bit – real life is waiting for you. We only get one shot, so don’t waste this day. Everyone be well, keep a cool head, take care of yourselves, and take care of EACH OTHER.”
Regarding the music, guitarist Mark Morton adds, “I had been sitting with the music for the intro and the post chorus for quite a while. I was trying to develop those two parts as separate songs altogether and was a little bit stumped, particularly with the intro piece. Me, Willie and Josh Wilbur (producer) were doing demos in the studio and the idea came up to try to mash those parts into the same tune and everything just took off. It was one of those times where once I knew what we were trying to do, the riffs just kind of fell out of me like they were writing themselves. It’s always a crazy feeling when that happens. Vocally, Randy heard the intro and said he instantly got a throwback Sisters Of Mercy type vibe from it and he took off from there.”
The music video for “Memento Mori” follows fast on the heels of “Checkmate,” the first new music from LAMB OF GOD in roughly five years. Both songs are set to appear on the band’s eighth studio album, which was produced by longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur (Gojira, Korn, Megadeth, Trivium). Lamb of God will be the band’s first record with Cruz, who sat behind the kit with LAMB OF GOD in 2018 and became an official member the following year.
LAMB OF GOD propelled heavy metal into the new millennium two decades ago with their genre-defining New American Gospel. They followed with 2003’s As the Palaces Burn, which made the Rolling Stone list of the Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. Ashes of the Wake (2004) was the first LAMB OF GOD album to be certified gold by the RIAA, followed by Sacrament (2006), which debuted in Billboard’s Top 10. Wrath (2009) earned the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hard Rock, Rock, and Tastemaker charts and was No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Those No. 1 positions were repeated with Resolution (2012). VII: Sturm und Drang (2015) debuted at No. 3 in North America and in the Top 5 in several countries.
The new album features guest appearances from Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) and Chuck Billy (Testament). Blythe sounds more driven and insightful than ever on Lamb Of God, offering up the angriest and most comprehensive diatribes, addressing modern life in the current landscape, of his storied career thus far.
The band is scheduled to make their live return at Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida, followed by a massive co-headlining tour with Megadeth, featuring support from Trivium and In Flames.
LAMB OF GOD tour dates:
5/9 – Daytona Beach, FL @ Welcome to Rockville (US Festival)
Co-headlining w/Megadeth and special guests Trivium and In Flames:
Summer 2020
6/12 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
6/13 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
6/14 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
6/16 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
6/17 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
6/18 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
6/20 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
6/21 – Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
6/23 – Syracuse, NY @ St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview
6/24 – Providence, RI @ Bold Point Lake Amphitheater
6/26 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
6/28 – Burgettstown, PA @ S&T Bank Music Park
6/29 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
7/1 – Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theater
7/2 – Mount Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino Amphitheatre
7/3 – Indianapolis, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
7/5 – Atlanta, GA @ Ameris Music Center
7/7 – Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion
7/8 – Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
7/10 – Chicago, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL
7/11 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO
7/12 – Nashville, TN @ Nashville Municipal Auditorium
7/14 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP
7/16 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
7/17 – Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
7/18 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
7/20 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
7/21 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre
7/23 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre
7/25 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
7/26 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
7/29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
7/30 – Pocatello, ID @ Portneuf Health Trust Amphitheatre
8/1 – Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion
Fall 2020
10/2 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
10/6 – Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
10/7 – New Orleans, LA @ UNO Lakefront Arena
10/9 – Corpus Christi, TX @ American Bank Center Arena
10/11 – El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
10/14 – Springfield, MO @ JQH Arena
10/16 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
10/21 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
10/23 – Huntington, WV @ Mountain Heath Arena
10/24 – Bethlehem, PA @ The Wind Creek Event Center
10/27 – Quebec City, QC @ Centre Videotron
10/28 – Laval, QC @ Place Bell
10/30 – St. Paul, MN @ Armory
10/31 – Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center
11/2 – Omaha, NE @ Baxter Arena
11/3 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
11/5 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
11/7 – Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Center
11/10 – Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
11/11 – Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Arena
11/13 – Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center
LAMB OF GOD is:
D. Randall Blythe – Vocals
Mark Morton – Guitar
Willie Adler – Guitar
John Campbell – Bass
Art Cruz – Drums
LAMB OF GOD online:
