Burn the Priest

Burn the Priest is an American heavy metal band formed in 1994 in Richmond, Virginia. The band decided to change their name to Lamb of God shortly after the release of a self-titled debut album in 1998. Mark Morton (guitar), Chris Adler (drums) and John Campbell (bass) started a band named Burn the Priest. The band members knew each other from the college they were all attending, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Morton left the band soon after its inception to receive his master's degree. Adler and Campbell replaced Morton with Abe Spear. For the next five years, the band practiced in Adler's house and around Virginia. In 1995, the band released its self-titled first demo. After the demo, Burn the Priest recorded two split albums with Agents of Satan and ZED respectively. After the band's first three demos, Burn the Priest added vocalist Randy Blythe to its line up. In 1997, Morton returned to the band. The band released their first album entitled Burn the Priest through Legion Records on April 13, 1999. The album was produced by Today Is the Day guitarist and vocalist Steve Austin. Also in April 1999, Spear left the band to a pursue a career in photography. This left an open position for a guitarist. Adler's brother, Willie Adler became the band's second guitarist a year later and a deal with Prosthetic Records was signed. After being banned from playing in certain places (some venue owners believing the band possessed an "evil" name), Burn the Priest changed their name to Lamb of God. Lamb of God decided to go by the name Burn the Priest in 2018 and they released a cover album called Legion: XX on May 18, 2018. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.