Artist Research

Artist Research

All artists have some sort of branding that they have on all their products which lets them be easily identified and recognised. This is a very important part of the bands marketing and aids in the selling of their merchandise.

Heavy Metal Band “Lamb of God” from Virginia, was formed in 1994 and consists of Randy Blythe, Willie Adler, John Campbell and Chris Adler. The Band was originally an instrumental band called "Burn The Priest" but they added vocals when Randy Blythe joined the group. The instrumental band played mainly thrash and death metal but since the band added vocals they have considered themselves to be a leader of New Wave, American Heavy Metal. Since their coming together they have released 6 studio albums, played at download and sonisphere festival and toured with Slayer and Metallica. Forsaken Souls, the band we have chosen to make a music video for, sound very similar to this band and would consider them to be one of their influences. This makes them a very useful band to look at and get inspiration from.


The band has a logo of their name which enables them to be recognised and identified easily. This logo is on all of their albums and other merchandise.

All the merchandise, as well as having the same logo on them, have similar styling too. It is all cartoon like and quite dark. This fits the persona of a metal band and represents the bands personality and music. This is very important with branding. It needs to be immediately recognisable and representative of the band’s style of music and character. I particularly like the hard lighting in the purple album cover and the poster as it creates very contrasting shadows and is often a feature seen in many heavy metal music videos.

Lamb of God Cd’s are available in most large music stores in the metal section which makes them easily accessible. They also advertise their music in magazines such as “Rock Sound” and Kerrang. This ensures their products are publicized to their target audience, therefore creating more sales.

"Killswitch Engage" are a band from Massachusetts and were formed in 1999. The band consists of Howard Jones, Mike, D'Antonio, Joe Stroetzel, Adam Dutkiewicz and Justin Foley. Since forming they have released five studio albums and played at numerous festivals. They got their name from an episode of 'The X-Files' called "Killswitch". The band consider themselves to be a Metalcore band which is a mixture of extreme metal and hardcore, incorporating both sung and screaming vocals in their music. The band try to write lyrics that are considered to be positive, singing about unity, positivity and love. This is fairly unusual as most metal bands tend to sing about darker things. Again Forsaken Souls would consider Killswitch Engage to be one of their influences, making them another useful band to study.


“Killswitch Engage” also have a logo which is placed on all of their merchandise. There are some slight variations on it but ultimately it is always the same font and styling.  

Although there are some slight variations, for example the twisted lines around it on the album with the smashed glass, it is still recognisable as the Killswitch Engage logo. This helps them get noticed, and anytime anyone see’s the logo they will know instantly that it is Killswitch Engage. Again all the merchandise has a similar, cartoon like styling. The subject of all the album covers and posters all seem to be quite dark, twisted and sinister. The aggression shown by the smashed glass, cutting blade and growling leopard is a characteristic shown not only in the branding of the band but also in the genre of music they play and the way they perform it. This seems to be a resonating feature with all metal bands. I really like the poster with the rose and the nails. Rose’s usually have connotations of love and beauty, however Killswitch Engage have used the rose with the nails around it in a more bitter and cruel way. It symbolizes more crushed dreams and lost hopes similar to the lyrics of the Lamb of God Song; Laid to Rest.

Killswitch Engage also advertise their products in Rock magazines such as Kerrang. This again ensures their music reaches their target audience and potential new fans.

Band Photo’s also all seem to be very dark and sinister looking. Also often the band is not shown playing their instruments or performing, merely standing around looking menacing. This again fits the whole personality that stereotypically goes with heavy metal music. The band photos are often used as extras in the Cd’s or digipacks.