Lamb of God are gearing up to release their tenth studio album, Into Oblivion, on March 13 via Epic Records, and guitarist Mark Morton says the band found themselves revisiting the DNA that first defined them.
Speaking on The Downbeat Podcast with Craig Reynolds of Stray From The Path, Morton revealed there was no grand manifesto heading into the writing process.
"Lamb of God is very collaborative, and there's no meeting before we get going about what our premise is gonna be," he explained. "But I do think collectively we were having conversations about, 'Well, what is it that we've gotten away from?' Not because anything was necessarily wrong… 'Ditch' is a monster… 'Resurrection Man'… 'Memento Mori' was massive. But it's, like, what have we gotten away from that was really at the genesis of this thing?"
A major catalyst was the band's Ashes Of The Wake 20-year anniversary tour, which forced Morton to re-learn older material inside and out.
"When you learn something like that and rehearse it so much, you start to understand the patterns that you're not really… 'Oh, I don't really do that move anymore.' But I'm doing it now 'cause I'm learning this thing that's 20 years old."
Instead of revisiting Lamb Of God's own early records like As The Palaces Burn or New American Gospel, Morton chose a different path — diving back into the music that inspired those albums in the first place. That meant spinning The Haunted, At The Gates, and early Meshuggah.
"That The Haunted Made Me Do It record, I was burning that thing down. It's so good. And Slaughter Of The Soul by At The Gates, that's just an absolute classic record," Morton said.
He singled out Destroy Erase Improve by Meshuggah as one of his all-time favorite metal albums. "Some of the stuff, they get so abstract… But for me, the sort of essence of the basic groove that Destroy Erase Improve has, that weird groove with an extra angle but it still grooves, that was a big influence."
Morton also touched on drummer Art Cruz, who joined the band as the official replacement for Chris Adler in 2019. Now on his third album with the group, Cruz's presence continues to evolve.
On 2020's self-titled record, Morton admits the band took a more conservative approach to the drum sound out of respect for the established Lamb Of God identity. "To change drummers and have the drums be drastically different didn't feel right for us," he said.
But Cruz's deep fandom of the band has become an unexpected creative asset.
"He can say things like, 'Well, Lamb of God in 2009 would've done this.' And we trust that perspective," Morton explained. "So he's in a unique position to be able to honor that sound and also run with it, which he has done. So I think on the self-titled record, the drums were treated a little more conservative… And then over the course of the Omens record and now Into Oblivion, you see that sort of evolving, as it should."
Lamb Of God is set to return to the road this March for what promises to be the heaviest tour of 2026, with the North American trek featuring support from Kublai Khan TX, Fit For An Autopsy, and Sanguisugabogg. Get those dates below and get your tickets here.
3/17 National Harbor, MD The Theater MGM National Harbor
3/19 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
3/20 Toronto, ON GCT Theatre
3/22 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
3/24 Minneapolis, MN Armory
3/25 Chicago, IL Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
3/27 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
3/28 Salt Lake City, UT The Union Event Center
3/30 Portland, OR Theater of the Clouds
3/31 Seattle, WA WAMU Theater
4/1 Vancouver, BC PNE Forum
4/3 San Francisco, CA The Masonic
4/4 Inglewood, CA YouTube Theater
4/5 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre
4/7 Albuquerque, NM Revel Entertainment Center
4/10 Austin, TX Moody Amphitheater
4/11 Irving, TX The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
4/12 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall
4/14 Nashville, TN War Memorial Auditorium
4/15 Atlanta, GA Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre
4/16 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
4/18 Reading, PA Santander Arena
4/19 Virginia Beach, VA The Dome
4/21 Buffalo, NY Buffalo RiverWorks
4/23 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Paramount
4/25 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
4/26 Boston, MA MGM Music Hall at Fenway
