Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton has clarified his recent remark that it is strange no newer bands have directly copied the band’s sound, saying it was simply an observation and not a complaint.
Morton first made the comment in an interview with “BangerTV“. Asked to expand on it by Australian outlet Heavy, he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Yeah, I don’t know. It’d be interesting to know. I wish I had a clever answer for you. I don’t really know. I stand by that. I feel like it’s surprising. You see bands like Killswitch [Engage], who had such success, and then you saw 20 bands come out that sounded like Killswitch. And I don’t see that with us. Even Gojira, who are so great, and you hear Gojira references in all kinds of new bands. And that’s not a dig; it’s not a criticism. If anything, I find it curious that I don’t hear at least a successful rendition of the Lamb Of God kind of character in newer bands. But I know that we have influenced a lot of younger bands, ’cause they tell me that. I hear bits and pieces.”
He added: “I think in that [‘BangerTV‘] interview [where I made the original comment] that people like to talk about so much now, which is fine — I’m happy to talk about it — I think what I was trying to say is no bands that came out that were just, like, straight-up Lamb Of God rip-off. And I find that curious. It’s just an observation. I’m not certainly not let down by that or hoping that someone will. It’s just kind of an observation I’ve made.”
Morton was also asked about his earlier comment that the band did not feel they had to follow any trend while making their latest album, Into Oblivion. He said: “I don’t know. I think it’s more natural than it is something that we sort of have to make an effort to avoid… As much as I think these bands are great, and it’s exciting to see young bands, moving the genre forward, I don’t feel compelled to try and emulate what Knocked Loose is doing or what Spiritbox is doing. [Those are] phenomenal bands, but I think there have, at times, and from different corners of the industry, been suggestions that to keep up with, to stay symmetrical with what’s streaming or what’s performing well or whatever, this is the sound, or this is the format, or this is the that or the other thing, and it’s just, like, ‘No.’ Bro, I’m 53 years old. We’ve been doing this for almost 30 years. So it’s not a matter of thumbing my nose at it. I’m a fan of what those bands are doing. I think it’s phenomenal. I enjoy watching a new generation of bands take this thing that we kind of helped carry the stick for for a little while, and take it somewhere else and make it their own. And that’s really exciting to observe, as a fan of music and as a member of this heavy metal community. But to try and emulate that or to try and incorporate that into what we do wouldn’t feel natural to me or to our band.”
Into Oblivion was released on March 13 through Century Media and Epic Records. Produced by Josh Wilbur, it debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and was preceded by the singles “Sepsis“, “Parasocial Christ“, the title track and “Blunt Force Blues“.
Lamb Of God formed in Richmond, Virginia, in the mid-1990s, originally under the name Burn The Priest. The band’s line-up features Morton, singer Randy Blythe, guitarist Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell and drummer Art Cruz.
