Lamb of God—as Burn the Priest—Premiere New Single, "Kerosene"

(Image credit: Travis Shinn)

Last month, Lamb of God announced Legion: XX, an album of covers that returns the band to its roots and its original name, Burn the Priest.

Today, they premiered the second single off the record, a fierce cover of "Kerosene," by Eighties punk legends Big Black. You can check it out below.

"Big Black is a very important band to me," vocalist Randy Blythe said in a press release. "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."

Mark Morton (guitar), John Campbell (bass) and Chris Adler (drums) formed the first incarnation of Lamb of God—Burn the Priest—in the winter of 1994 after meeting four years earlier as students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Less than a year later, in the summer of 1995, they met vocalist Randy Blythe before adding Chris Adler's brother, Willie Adler (guitar), prior to transitioning to the name Lamb of God.

Burn the Priest's self-titled debut album—released via Philadelphia-based Legion Records—documented the band as it was at the time, a heavily punk-influenced group performing metal. As the group in popularity, however, its members became increasingly wary of being associated with satanic metal and decided to change the band's name to Lamb of God.

Legion: XX is set for a May 18 release via Epic. You can preorder the album here, and check out its full 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)

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