Back on Saturday the 5^th we had the Back To The Beginning concert, which was the final live bow for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. I have a huge post detailing that event here. Today I want to get into a song performed both live at the show and also released in digital studio form afterward in a bit of a surprise freebie.

Lamb Of God were one of the many acts to perform a min-set at the event. The band played their two most beloved songs, Laid To Rest and Redneck, then offered up a cover of Black Sabbath’s treasured song Children Of The Grave. It’s a song that easily could have been in Sabbath’s own set, but Ozzy had to power through both his own solo material and then the Sabbath portion so they kept things a bit shorter.

Much is made of Black Sabbath’s influence on heavy metal and here with Lamb Of God we have a case that illustrates just how long the timeline is. Lamb Of God formed in 1994 (originally known as Burn The Priest) and are now 31 years into their career. They took time to honor Sabbath, who just wrapped up 57 years in the business.

This is a faithful rendition of the original, it does a good job of retaining what makes the original work while also “sounding” like Lamb Of God. The song does suit Lamb Of God very well anyway, with the chug-a-long rhythm working great with LoG’s groove metal blueprint. It’s also interesting to hear vocalist Randy Blythe do more singing than growling here, it’s not something you get everyday.

Heavy metal covers of Black Sabbath songs are a dime a dozen, it’s pretty logical that many bands cover the band at the root of metal. But Lamb Of God offered up a very nice cover of one of Sabbath’s best songs and it commemorates the special event of Ozzy’s retirement wondefully.