Lamb of God, also known as LoG, has been one of the biggest metal bands since their visceral birth in 1994. They formed in Richmond, VA and named themselves Burn the Priest with Randy Blythe on vocals, Mark Morton and Willie Adler on guitars, John Campbell on bass, and Chris Adler on the drums. There has been a rumor in the music world that the band changed their name due to the bans they would receive from venues due to their sacreligious name. However, contrary to that they did not get banned from venues until after their name was changed. The reason they changed their name was because they did not want to be perceived for a different satanic metal band.

Throughout their history Lamb of God has released countless music while changing the way metal music is viewed in the United States (and for the better) and 2018 shows no slow down in LoG music. Through a press release Lamb of God has revealed what they call a “Burn the Priest Cover of Big Black’s “Kerosene”” in celebration of their 20th anniversary. This cover, though, is the first single of many covers of classic punk, hardcore, and metal songs from the greats such as Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, Big Black, Ministry, Melvins, Quicksand, and more. Titled Legion: XX Lamb of God will perform these songs under their original name Burn the Priest as an homage and nod to their musical upbringing.

This cover, however, is the second to be released as they recently did a surprise release cover of Accused’s track “Inherit the Earth,” which was released in March of 2018. Listen to the new cover below and pre-order their incredible merch bundles here.

When talking about the new Big Black cover, vocalist Randy Blythe states that “Big Black is a very important band to me.When I was 12 and first listening to punk rock, I thought all punk came from England – but then through skating, I got into Black Flag and Bad Brains. I soon discovered this super-smart American punk rock – very caustic, and deeply sardonic about the murky side of the human experience. That got me into Steve Albini’s future bands Shellac and Rapeman – and all the noisy smart punk rock on labels like AmRep and Touch & Go. ‘Kerosene’ was one of their biggest songs, if they even had one. It speaks to small-town boredom.”

The entirety of the cover album will be released on May 18th 2018 via Epic Records and will also feature a seven-inch vinyl of their versions of “Inherit the Earth” and “In the Meantime.” Check out the tracklist below:

Legion: XX track listing:

1. Inherit The Earth (originally performed by The Accused)
2. Honey Bucket (originally performed by Melvins)
3. Kerosene (originally performed by Big Black)
4. Kill Yourself (originally performed by S.O.D.)
5. I Against I (originally performed by Bad Brains)
6. Axis Rot (originally performed by Sliang Laos)
7. Jesus Built My Hotrod (originally performed by Ministry)
8. One Voice (originally performed by Agnostic Front)
9. Dine Alone (originally performed by Quicksand)
10. We Gotta Know (originally performed by Cro-Mags)

Photo credit: Owen Ela