New American Gospel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New American Gospel
New American Gospel cover
Studio album by Lamb of God
Released September 26, 2000 (2000-09-26)
Recorded April 15–April 22, 2000
Genre Metal, Heavy Metal
Length 55:29
Label Metal Blade
Prosthetic (reissue)
Producer Steve Austin
Lamb of God
Professional reviews
Lamb of God chronology
Burn the Priest
(as Burn the Priest)
(1999)		 New American Gospel
(2000)		 As the Palaces Burn
(2003)

New American Gospel is the debut album of Virginian metal band Lamb of God, released in 2000. New American Gospel was the first release with Willie Adler on guitar.

Prosthetic Records reissued New American Gospel in 2006. It is remastered and remixed with four bonus tracks. The remastered version contains a note on the inlay that explains why the sound of the album is less polished than their newer work. According to the inlay, it was in part due to time constraints as well as heavy drinking. It has sold over 100,000 copies in the United States.

"Black Label" was released as a single.

Contents

[edit] Song rationales

In the May 2006 issue interview with Revolver about the album reissue, guitarist Mark Morton and vocalist Randy Blythe talked about the meanings of the song on the album and information about them.

"A Warning"
“ "A Warning" is one of my favorite tracks on that record. People forget now, but it was a little harder to be a fucking weirdo back then, You know what I mean? Now it's not so much of a big deal - you see frat boys with Slayer shirts or Slipknot shirts on, or whatever. But that song was about people looking at you as if you were a freak, metalhead, a punk rocker-whatever—and them being like, "Oh, my god, what a fucking loser freak!" and you just saying, "Yes, I am, so screw you." ”

—Blythe
"The Black Dahlia"
“ It seems kind of typical for guys in bands to have a serial-killer fascination. I don't—I just thought that particular Black Dahlia murder case was interesting, and it kind of panders to my film noir, romantic side. I romanticize about that time a lot in my head, and I took that whole story and put it into lyrics, so I could sit around and wear a fedora and smoke unfiltered cigarettes to it later. Call women "dames" and stuff, you know? [laughs] ”

—Blythe
"The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion"
“ One of my favorites on the record, and it's still in the set to this day. You can really hear my nerves in cutting the guitar intro to that song—so much so I think we actually had to fade it up a little bit. [laughs] It was a real new piece of me, and it's pretty difficult to play. It's imperfect but it came out really cool. ”

—Morton
Pariah
“ "Pariah" was written about a certain individual who used to live in my beloved city, the former capital of the Confederacy, who I did not get along with too well. He was a fucking heroin junkie and was just an awful person. I had a couple of unpleasant run-ins with him and he was just a real shitbag, basically. I despised him so much that I wrote a song about him. ”

—Blythe
"O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E."
“ Stands for Officer Dick Head Gets A Black Fucking Eye. This song was about a time when Lamb of God was stuck out in the rain and was forced to find cover from it. A while afterwards police from the San Diego Police Department came by and gave them a hard time and ended up kicking Blythe while he was on the ground laughing at them. Finally the police took all of them to jail and they were released afterwards. Blythe said the song was about police brutality and he "thanks the San Diego Police Department" for that. The song meaning explains the names at the end such as Kent State, Tiananmen, and Waco. ”

[edit] Track listing

Original release
  1. "Black Label" – 4:53
  2. "A Warning" – 2:24
  3. "In the Absence of the Sacred" – 4:36
  4. "Letter to the Unborn" – 2:56
  5. "The Black Dahlia" – 3:19
  6. "Terror and Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard" – 5:38
  7. "The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion" – 4:10
  8. "Pariah" – 4:24
  9. "Confessional" – 4:01
  10. "O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E." – 5:15
2006 Remaster
  1. "Black Label" – 4:52
  2. "A Warning" – 2:23
  3. "In the Absence of the Sacred" – 4:36
  4. "Letter to the Unborn" – 2:56
  5. "The Black Dahlia" – 3:19
  6. "Terror and Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard" – 5:37
  7. "The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion" – 4:10
  8. "Pariah (Flux)" – 4:24
  9. "Confessional" – 4:01
  10. "O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E." – 5:14
  11. "Nippon" (Japanese bonus track) – 3:53
  12. "New Willenium" ("The Black Dahlia" demo version) – 3:06
  13. "Half-Lid" ("A Warning" demo version) – 2:28
  14. "Flux" ("Pariah" demo version) – 4:24

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Notes

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The song "Black Label" is featured in Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
  • There is no separate guitarist named "Duane". Duane is Mark Morton's middle name that was written in the line-up in the Metal Blade Records / Prosthetic release of "New American Gospel".
  • The song "Letter to the Unborn" contains no lyrics to read in the book of the CD. The song indeed has lyrics but, according to Blythe, the song is very personal concerning the death of his daughter with his ex-wife. They were written before she was born. Because of all of this, he didn’t want the lyrics to be reprinted or read.
  • The song "Terror and Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard" features guest vocals by Steve Austin of the band Today Is the Day.
v • d • e
Lamb of God
Randy Blythe · Mark Morton · Willie Adler · John Campbell · Chris Adler
Abe Spear
Studio albums
Live albums
Extended plays
Videos
Singles
Related articles