Lamb of God—as Burn the Priest—Premiere New Song, "I Against I"

(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 third single off the record, a ferocious cover of "I Against I," a song by one of the most legendary punk bands of all time, Washington D.C.'s Bad Brains.

"It's been a super-big honor to recently sing with one of my favorite bands of all time," vocalist Randy Blythe said in a press release. "Playing with the Bad Brains was an unearthly experience—trying to replace the fastest-singing human ever on songs like 'Banned in DC' and 'Pay to Cum.' When it came time to choose our cover of 'I Against I', I was trying not to sound like H.R., as he's so unique, but yet also throwing in enough of his style to show respect to his unique voice, through my interpretation. To cover the Bad Brains can't be a straight-forward cover, we had to nail it, and we did."

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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