LAMB OF GOD and KREATOR have collaborated on a new original song, "State Of Unrest". The trek is being released today (Friday, February 10) to promote the two groups' European tour of the same name. Watch the lyric video for it here.
When the initial "State Of Unrest" tour was postponed in March 2020 due to the global pandemic, Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD) and Mille Petrozza (KREATOR) connected and began working on a song together. After the music was completed, they enlisted Riley Gale (POWER TRIP) to sing the vocal. POWER TRIP was intended to be the original opening band of the "State Of Unrest" tour. Tragically, Gale passed away in August 2020 before he was able to record his vocal on the song.
After the further postponement of the "State Of Unrest" tour, LAMB OF GOD and KREATOR came together to finish and record the song with D. Randall Blythe (LAMB OF GOD) and Petrozza on vocals. Proceeds from the single will be donated to Dallas Hope Charities in Gale's name, an organization he was involved with and cared deeply about.
KREATOR and LAMB OF GOD's "State Of Unrest" European tour was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, but ended up getting postponed, first to 2021, then to 2022 and finally to 2023, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The trek will now launch on February 15 in Munich, Germany and conclude on March 19 in Berlin, Germany.
Says LAMB OF GOD: "It's been a long time coming and now that the 'State Of Unrest' tour is about to kick off, we think it's worthy of a celebration!
"We are super proud to unveil a historic, creative collaboration between LAMB OF GOD and KREATOR; the brand new, all original song 'State Of Unrest'.
"As many of you may know, the 'State Of Unrest' tour originally included POWER TRIP on the bill. To honor the memory of our friend Riley Gale, all proceeds from the 'State Of Unrest' single will go to Dallas Hope Charities, a non profit organization who Riley worked closely with, providing shelter & resources to homeless LGBTQ young people in his beloved hometown.
"We hope you enjoy this special song and we are grateful for your support."
Petrozza first spoke about his band's collaboration with LAMB OF GOD in a July 2022 interview with Sakis Fragos of Greece's Rock Hard magazine. At the time, he said: "We did a song together — LAMB OF GOD and KREATOR. That's gonna be cool. And I think that's totally different because it's [a mixture of] the European [approach] and the U.S. [style]."
He added: "It's a song that we've written for the tour, to kick it off. I think that's gonna be a cool song. That's a cool collaboration that I did."
KREATOR's fifteenth studio album, "Hate Über Alles", was released in June 2022. The follow-up to 2017's "Gods Of Violence" was recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, Germany. Helming the sessions was Arthur Rizk, who has previously worked with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, CODE ORANGE, POWER TRIP and SOULFLY, among others.
The "Hate Über Alles" cover artwork was created by Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with HATEBREED, SOULFLY, TESTAMENT, ICED EARTH and SODOM, among others.
"Hate Über Alles" marks KREATOR's first album with bassist Frédéric Leclercq, who joined the group in 2019.
LAMB OF GOD's latest album, "Omens", was released last October via Epic Records. The band tracked the effort with longtime collaborator Josh Wilbur (KORN, MEGADETH) live in the room together at Henson Recording Studios (formerly A&M Studios) in Los Angeles, California, a location that birthed classics from THE DOORS, PINK FLOYD, RAMONES and SOUNDGARDEN, among others."Omens" is the follow-up to LAMB OF GOD's self-titled album, which was released in June 2020 via Epic Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. That LP marked LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Art Cruz, who joined the band in July 2019 as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler.