New American Gospel

New American Gospel
Studio album by Lamb of God
Released	September 26, 2000 (2000-09-26)
Recorded	April 15–April 22, 2000
Genre	Groove metal
Length	41:35
Label	Prosthetic
Producer	Steve Austin, Chris Adler, Lamb of God
Lamb of God chronology
Burn the Priest (1999) New American Gospel (2000) As the Palaces Burn (2003)
Singles from New American Gospel
"Black Label" Released: 2001

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Allmusic

New American Gospel is the second album by American groove metal band Lamb of God, released in 2000 on Prosthetic Records. New American Gospel is the first release with Willie Adler on guitar, and the first album under the name "Lamb of God".

Prosthetic Records remastered and reissued New American Gospel in 2006 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.

Track listing

All music composed by Lamb of God.

No.	Title	Length
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" (Lyrics: Steve Austin, Blythe)	5:37
7.	"The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion"	4:10
8.	"Pariah"	4:24
9.	"Confessional" (Lyrics: Mark Morton, Blythe)	4:01
10.	"O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E."	5:14
Total length:		41:35

2006 remaster
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Nippon" (Japanese release 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
Total length:		55:29

Song rationales

In the May 2006 issue interview with Revolver about the album re-issue, 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.' "

"Letter to the Unborn"

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 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]

"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."

"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."

"O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E."

Stands for Officer Dick Head Gets A Black Fucking Eye. This song was written about an incident that occurred during the period of Randy Blythe's life spent as a vagrant. At one point, the group Blythe was with were caught in a storm and sought shelter in an abandoned building. A while afterwards police from the San Diego Police Department arrived and violently detained the group. 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.

Personnel

Lamb of God

• Randy Blythe – lead vocals
• Mark Morton (credited by his middle name Duane) – lead and rhythm guitar
• Willie Adler – lead and rhythm guitars
• John Campbell – bass
• Chris Adler – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Steve Austin – guest vocals on "Terror and Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard"

Production

• Produced and mixed by Steve Austin, Chris Adler, and Lamb of God
• Engineered by Steve Austin
• Analog editing by Steve Austin and Chris Adler
• Digital editing and mastering by Steve Austin and Dave Murello
• Remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound (2006 reissue)

Trivia

All of the following are from Chris Adler's book "The Making of New American Gospel"

• The song "Black Label" was not completed by the time the album was being recorded. The writing continued as Lamb of God was in the studio. Also, the original version on the song (as heard on the album) has no official lyrics. Randy is "scatting" in the song.
• The screaming and distorted sound effects in the beginning of "Black Dahlia" is actually Chris Adler screaming. Chris mentions that due to time constraints and money issues, he was about to have a nervous breakdown by day four of recording. As quoted from Chris, the producer handed him a mic, closed him in a room, and told him to let it out.
• The sounds heard in the beginning of Pariah are sounds from an elevator shaft altered into a hyper-industrial noise. This sound effect and other similar sounds on the bands early demos are made by a friend of theirs named Ian.
• Pariah was used in a DC Shoe commercial. Black Label has been used in various reality shows on MTV.
• The following are a list of working titles for the songs:

"Flux" became "Pariah," "Half-Lid" became "A Warning," "New Willenium" became "The Black Dahlia," "5.1 Magics" became "Letter to the Unborn," "Pocket Monkey" became "Confessional,"

• The name "Pocket Monkey" came from a story between Chris and his girlfriend (now wife) and her like of sock monkeys.
• The name "5.1 Magics" came from Megadeth's song "5 Magics" since the band thought the intro to what is now "Letter to the Unborn" sounded like the intro to "5 Magics." However, Chris says it actually sound more like Megadeth's "Take No Prisoners"
• Nippon was recorded in one day at a GWAR rehearsal space with their soundman during a tour.