Lamb of God released the EP The Duke on November 18, 2016, through Epic and Nuclear Blast. Its title track honored Wayne Ford, a fan who became friends with vocalist Randy Blythe before dying of leukemia in 2015. “The Duke” grew out of that friendship, with Blythe writing about a man he’d come to know during the final weeks of his life.
Blythe told Metal Hammer in November 2016 that he’d first met Ford after giving him a shout-out at a show. They reconnected when a friend contacted the band during the recording of VII: Sturm und Drang, explaining that Ford was dying and asking whether the musicians could call. With the members in different locations, Blythe made contact himself. Their conversations continued through messages and video calls, including calls into the studio.
Before Ford died, Blythe asked whether there was a message he wanted to leave behind. He hoped to record Ford’s words for the album or work them into a lyric, but Ford never supplied that message. After his death, Blythe wrote from their conversations and his contact with Ford’s family. The music was already in place; the words followed while the loss was fresh. He was careful to describe the perspective as his own limited understanding of Ford’s experience. “Honesty is more important in music than technical proficiency I think,” he told the magazine. He also kept the meaning of a passage intended for Ford’s wife private.
The recording came from the sessions for the band’s 2015 album, but it wasn’t included on the finished record. In his account of the song’s origins, excerpted by Loudwire in October 2016, Blythe explained that he welcomed releasing it separately because that could draw more attention to Ford’s story and the need for marrow donors.
“The Duke” also gave considerable space to Blythe’s clean singing. The EP’s other studio track, “Culling,” took a more aggressive approach and had a different history: it began during the sessions for 2009’s Wrath before being finished later. Three live recordings rounded out the release, connecting the new material to the band’s performances of songs from VII: Sturm und Drang.
The campaign attached to the EP offered signed guitars, handwritten lyrics and copies of the release, with proceeds benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Blythe also contributed his Ashes of the Wake gold record plaque. Alongside that fundraising, the band encouraged fans to join the Be The Match donor registry. Remembering Ford became a reason to ask listeners to take a specific action.
In December 2021, Blythe shared on Instagram that Todd Seaman, a fan from Arkansas who had registered after hearing “The Duke,” had matched with a 65-year-old leukemia patient in Virginia. Seaman donated stem cells and plasma, and Blythe accompanied him during the trip to Washington, D.C. In a 2025 interview on Depresh Mode, Blythe said the transplant had worked and that he’d met the recipient.
