I haven’t really been on board with Lamb of God actively since As the Palaces Burn. I’ve kept up with them, but after a few spins (especially with their last two albums), I’ve been disinterested. The familiar Lamb of God sound is there, but the appeal isn’t. It’s not bad music, just sort of… existent. And for a band often hailed as one of the torchbearers of modern metal, that’s not enough. True, they aren’t the same scrappy bunch of Southern longhairs that made the weird, dark groove metal of New American Gospel – nor should they be — but for me, that didn’t excuse reasonably inoffensive metal on cruise control. But after a while, I recognized that it could simply be me and my relationship with LoG fandom, and chocked it up to a “no offense, but this isn’t for me anymore” frame of mind.

Regularly, here is where I would say, “But Lamb of God’s latest, Resolution, restores my faith in their ability to slay motherfuckers like a hybrid of Ted Bundy and Genghis Kahn,” or something less caffeinated and hackneyed. But I’m stopping short of that, because there’s still that slickness Lamb of God added around the time of Ashes of the Wake that doesn’t sit well with me. That being said, this is the first album where I feel like they’re comfortable in their role as a well-funded major label act. Sure, the production is slick, and there are a few bizarro-radio singles here, but more importantly, the music sticks while still being thoroughly Lamb of God. The songwriting may be a little more streamlined, but there’s also more underneath it than there had been as of late. Perhaps Resolution is not the bridge upon which old and new LoG fans can high-five eachother — if such a thing is even in the cards — but a little more of a warm welcome than I’ve come to expect from them.

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Here’s when you know that a band has finally “made it”: when they’ve got their own stage carpets, custom-monogrammed with the band’s logo, to stomp and spit all over as they play live every night. These are no scrims, props or hanging stage-banners, mind you: only the members themselves and those up in the balcony will ever see them, and those things have gotta cost $500-$1,000 each, easy. And THAT, my friends, is success, a definition by which Lamb of God are now in the bigtime.

“New York City’s always been good to us,” bellowed newly-dreadlocked Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe, frenetically pacing from one side of the stage to the other in his trademark camo shorts, in that specific Randy Blythe galloping gate. “We go way back here. We used to play The Wetlands, CBGB’s, all those places,” said Blythe, seemingly not realizing (or maybe just not caring) that the majority of those in attendance were too young or too suburban to have ever attended a show at either. “Last time through we played a little venue called Madison Square Garden, with Metallica. This is much more our style — I like to see your faces!” Indeed, it was refreshing to see Lamb of God at the relatively tiny 1,200-capacity Irving Plaza; last time I saw them headline was in 2007 at the Roseland Ballroom, three times the size of Irving, and the band has only EXPLODED in popularity since then.

The intimacy of this show was what made it so special. Big bands will do this from time to time, do a quick tour of “underplays” immediately prior to or during the release week of an album to generate hype, build buzz, and give back to the diehards. And those shows are always a blast; this one had been circled on my calendar as a highlight for the month of January the very minute it was announced. Lamb of God did not disappoint.

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Well, this is it! The first really major release of the new year, and certainly one of the most heavily anticipated albums of 2012, Lamb of God’s Resolution comes out tomorrow on Epic.

But it’s streaming right now, in its entirety, right here.

So give it a listen, and then engage in the oh-so-fun debating in our comments section below. How do you think it stacks up against other Lamb of God releases? Is it everything you hoped for? More? Less? What elements of it, if any, caught you off guard? Did it sway you with regards to Randy Blythe’s current presidential bid? We’re excited to hear what you have to say…

-AR

Randy Blythe is a busy man these days! Amidst his hectic barn-storming Presidential campaign schedule the Lamb of God frontman has somehow found time to stay active in the press and on the social networks. Or maybe all that stuff IS his Presidential campaign? Sly, Randy… sly.

Blythe has been quite an active user on Twitter lately, engaging in direct Q&As with fans — often for hours at a time — much like Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter did this past fall. Blythe explained his love affair with the social media outlet in an in-depth interview with Metal Insider earlier this week:

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If you still have any doubts that being in a band is for losers, watch Why You Do This, the documentary by Car Bomb’s Michael Dafferner. It is a cold, hard bitch slap of reality. Including interviews with Richard Christy, Randy Blythe, Joe Duplantier, Ben Falgoust, and a bunch of other cool dudes, Why You Do This premiered last year at the Queens World Film Festival, and is now streaming online in full. Check it out:

If you enjoyed that, you can order a DVD right here.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Last week, we posted video of Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe rehearsing with Cannabis Corpse, who he was going to front for the memorial show in honor of late GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot; that show took place this past Saturday, so now, of course, we have video of the actual performance. Here’s the entire set…

…and here’s some bonus footage — Blythe shaving GWAR front man/MetalSucks columnist Dave “Oderus Urungus” Brockie’s head on stage:

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If you were reading Vince’s news round-ups during the first half of our holiday break last month, than you already know that Cannabis Corpse have split with with vocalist Andy “Weedgrinder” Horn and guitarist Nick “Nikropolis” Poulos. What we didn’t get to report, however, is that the band has recruited Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe to be their vocalist for one night only, when they play a memorial show for late GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot on January 7 in Richmond, VA.

Now Blythe has released some video footage of his rehearsals for the band, and, uh, yeah, this sounds frickin’ awesome:

I can’t make it to Richmond this Saturday for the show, but if you can, you obviously should, ’cause it seems like it’s gonna be an amazing time, and it’s obviously for a good cause. Get all the relevant details here.

-AR

[via The PRP]

As a few of you seem to have noticed, yesterday MetalSucks was very, very proud — like pinch us is this really happening??? proud — to debut “Ghost Walking,” the new single from Lamb of God; now the band has released a lyric video for that song, which you can check out below. I find it real helpful, ’cause I can’t always understand what Randy Blythe is saying. For example, I was walking around all weekend thinking the first line in the song is “Do you remember when work was fun?”, which is not at all what Blythe is screaming. (Freud would say my misinterpretation means something, but Freud is dead and I love my job, so whatever.) So “Ghost Walking” is not a song about how bad it sucks to have a regular nine-to-five job. Fascinating.

“Ghost Walking” is available as a digital single now; it will appear on Lamb of God’s forthcoming release Resolution, which comes out on January 24. You can pre-order it now in one of several different combo packages through Lamb of God’s official webstore.

-AR

Yeah my headline is a little misleading. But it got your attention I bet!

ANYWAY, last week, Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe came to the conclusion that his Twitter account just wasn’t enough to express himself fully (which is understandable — dude tweets a LOT, and he’s really funny with that shit, too). And so he started his own Tumblr blog, called Randonesia. And while the first few posts he did were, in his own words, “just me figuring this thing out,” his most recent entry, published earlier this week, is an in-depth discussion of one of those topics which is incredibly important, but somehow seems to be rarely discussed in public: album sequencing.

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I am unbelievably excited by the news that Lamb of God have completed recording for their new, yet-to-be titled album. And now Randy Blythe himself has posted a video from the vocal sessions, which is SWEET, because it gives us a chance to hear some new music! Speaking of the clip, Mr. Blythe himself had this to say: “The lyrics are MY BEST yet. PURE GENIUS.”

Check out the video below:

AMAZING, right?!?! This album is gonna rule so hard.

Lamb of God’s latest, which Blythe also promises is “WAAAAY better than Wrath,” is expected to be released early next year.

-AR

[via The PRP]

To help promote their upcoming tour, on October 11 Judas Priest will release The Chosen Few, their umpteenth career retrospective, and one which does not feature any new material. The Chosen Few does have a hook, though — I mean, beyond the fact that the band members appear on the cover only as silhouettes, I assume at least in part to downplay the fact that a certain key member is no longer in the group.

No, the hook  (and this is actually a neat idea) is that the band has let a lot of other celebrity musicians — including Ozzy, Lemmy, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kerry King, Slash, and Vinnie Paul  – choose which songs would appear on the collection. And, yeah, it’s interesting to know that Zakk Wylde is way into “Grinder,” and and that Randy Blythe and David Coverdale might actually have something to talk about at a cocktail party, and that Joe Satriani likes his Priest heavier than I might have suspected.

But like I said, there’s no new material here, so I can’t quite imagine why anyone would want this album anyway. The coolest thing about The Chosen Few is seeing which dude chose which song, and you can do that after the jump. So, look, we just saved you ten bucks.

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Everyone whose parents raised them correctly loves Gojira, and so everyone whose parents raised them correctly has been eagerly anticipating the band’s seemingly-forever-in-gestation Sea Shepherd EP since, well, seemingly forever.

But now it looks like we might actually be getting close to its unveiling! Last week we got to hear a new song, “Of Blood and Salt,” which features guest appearances from Meshuggah’s Fredrik Thordendal and Devin Townsend’s Devin Townsend; now Gojira’s guitarist/vocalist/mastermind, Joe Duplantier, has given an interview with Metal Hammer in which he reveals that Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe (who previously appeared on the group’s “Adoration for None”), In Flames’ Anders Friden, and some dude named Max Cavalera are all going to appear on the release, too.

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Did you know that Car Bomb vocalist Michael Dafferner’s day job is working as a satellite engineer? No, no I did not. Well, did you know that he also directed a documentary, [why_you_do_this], about how difficult and shitty it is to be a touring metal musician? No, no I did not know that, either. Yeah, well, neither did I, but apparently both facts are true.

[why_you_do_this] (it’s a statement, not a question asked by an immigrant) is going to make its premiere next week at the Queens World Film Festival (as in a world film festival which takes place in Queens, not a film festival which takes place on a world full of royal women), and even though I didn’t know about it until like ten seconds ago, it look pretty interesting — Dafferner interviewed all kinds of cool people, like Richard Christy, Randy Blythe, Joe Duplantier, and Ben Falgoust, all about the very simple question posed by the title. Or, perhaps a little less succinctly, this move could be called Holy Shit There is No Money to be Made in Metal and Touring Fucking Sucks, Why the Fucking Fuck Do You Keep Subjecting Yourself to this Crap? Which is a question every aspiring metal musician should ask him or herself, since the chances of making a living at playing music are only slightly better than the chances that you’ll be struck by lightning while receiving a wristie from Marilyn Monroe.

ANYWAY, the movie premieres at the aforementioned film festival on Friday, March 4, at 7:00pm EST at The Renaissance Auditorium (81^st Street & 37^th Ave) in Jackson Heights, NY. You can get more details, as well as tickets, here; you can also watch the trailer here and a clip here (they’re not embeddable… I guess they’re trying to keep the film a secret). I don’t think I can make it ’cause I’ll be on an airplane just hours prior, but if anyone goes, please let me know how it is. Hopefully this thing will get a DVD release or something soon so the rest of us can check it out.

Also, the press release says that Car Bomb are working on new music. That’s what they told me in 2008, too, but maybe we’ll actually get a new album before I turn eighty.

-AR

Scorched-Earth Policy
TBA
Label – Self-release
Release date – Spring 2011

Back in 2001, my first taste of Slipknot’s then-forthcoming sophomore album, Iowa, was a two-minute piece of “The Heretic Anthem.” The snippet was found on a wee little mini-CD from Roadrunner Japan alongside similarly abridged jams by Fear Factory, Ill Nino, Bat Cave, Sepultura, and, uh, Cairo, among others. The weird thing is that this CD5-shaped Reader’s Digest of macho gruntcore — clearly designed for overhead play at Japan’s CD superstores — stayed in heavy rotation at my place for months. Crazy, right? But you can see how, once distilled to its 120-second essence, no song could overstay its welcome or commit an unforgivable gaffe — even Ill Nino’s! And listening to them all was like taking a healthy bite of twelve different pizza slices, some undercooked, most boldly similar, and totally fun! Even Ill Nino’s!

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This past April, Gojira announced they’d be recording a new five-song EP this summer featuring “guests from the international metal community,” the proceeds of which would benefit anti-whaling organization Sea Shepherd. As of July, we were still wondering what the heck has been going on with that, and since then, we’ve received fairly regular e-mails from readers asking us for updates — in fact, MetalSucks Maniac Ray Pecheone e-mailed us looking for info just this monday.

And, hey, guess what? The PRP has the scoop! They report:

Gojira will enter a Los Angeles, CA area studio next week to begin recording their new four song EP with producer Logan Mader (DevilDriver, Cavalera Conspiracy). The band have also revealed that the EP will feature some “very special guests singing.”

So the EP is still happening, it’s still gonna have some presumably awesome guests (my money’s on Randy Blythe, amongst others), the recording schedule just seems to have been delayed a little. But I’ll take tardy Gojira over no Gojira.

-AR

The last time Protest the Hero came out with a new album was in early 2008, a little more than a year into the life of this site. At the time I raved about Fortress endlessly, and it ended up as #2 on my year-end list for 2008 topped only by Gojira’s The Way of All Flesh [side note: so many awesome records came out that year!]. It’ll be interesting to see how the MetalSucks Maniacs at large react to my pending coverage of Protest the Hero’s next record, which they’re supposedly working on right now. Our site’s readership has grown a ton since early 2008 and the amount of vitriol spewed our way in the comments section has vastly increased for better or worse. Back then our readers seemed to mostly support my penchant for prog wankery and really got behind Protest the Hero too; would it be the same these days?

The knock on PtH always seems to be that people don’t like their vocalist Rody Walker. I happen to think that he’s the icing on the cake, a truly unique vocalist that really brings something extra to a band full of amazing musicians. Whereas most bands of amazing musicians simply get a dude to scream over what they’re playing — so that people whose attention spans are too short to pay attention to an instrumental band won’t lose interest — Rody Walker really adds something to the formula, and what the other 4 dudes do is all the better for it. He’s a really talented vocalist too, and PtH certainly wouldn’t be the same without him.

But apparently MS reader Damien doesn’t agree, or perhaps he was just bored and fiddling around with the instrumental versions of Fortress that the band released when he created the below mix of “Sequoia Throne” with Randy Blythe’s vocals for the Wrath track “Fake Messiah” laid over top of it. It’s a cool concept, and though I feel like the use of Blythe’s vocals in the chorus could use work (seems too sparse), I think it’s pretty well done.

-VN

When Randy Blythe was nineteen years old and Jamey Jasta was thirteen years old, a really silly white dude who is named Rob Van Winkle but insisted on calling himself “Vanilla Ice” released a song entitled “Ice Ice Baby,” which was a huge megahit. There can be no doubt that Blythe and Jasta were aware of the song’s existence, for such was its prevalence in pop culture. Of course, we have no way of knowing what these someday-modern metal legends thought of the track, but I think we can reasonably assume that at no point did the thought “Someday Vanilla Ice will come see me perform and we will hang out backstage after the show” cross their respective minds.

And yet, this:

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Just last week Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe hopped on stage with Hatebreed to help out with “Doomsayer,” and I wondered why musicians on these mega-package tours don’t do cool shit like that more often — and now, it seems, Mr. Blythe has struck again! Here’s some video of him doing “Pure Hatred” with Chimaira in Idaho (potatoes represent!) recently. Looks like Blythe is aiming to be Mayhem’s MVP this year.

Chimaira’s new three DVD/CD set, Coming Alive, is out tomorrow on Ferret. I’ll have a review up ASAP.

-AR

[via The PRP]

So the Rockstar Mayhem tour is underway, and for the first stop in San Berdino, CA, Hatebreed brought Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe on stage for a rendition of “Doomsayer” from 2003′s The Rise of Brutality. And, honestly, I don’t understand why bands don’t do shit like this more often. You’ve got twelve bands all out on the road with one another for a month and thousands of excited fans — why isn’t everyone hopping on stage with everyone else? Even if it’s for something ridiculous: two years ago, “supergroup” Ladder Up an Ass was the highlight of Mayhem’s stop at Nassau Coliseum.

The Rockstar Mayhem tour is ongoing through mid-August. Most years all of the bands party together after every show; hopefully as they all begin to bond, we’ll see more of this kind of thing on future dates.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Apparently taking their revenge for that smooth-jazz version of “In Your Words,” Lamb of God “have recorded a cover of the iconic Pearl & Dean theme, familiar to cinema-goers across the UK since the 1970s,” for Iron Man 2, according to the Roadrunner UK site. Since I’ve never been a cinema-goer across the UK (I actually did see a movie in London once, but I barely remember the experience), I’m not at all familiar with this theme, but when I sought it out on YouTube, well… I was surprised, to say the least.

I wonder what the heck a LOG version of this little ditty sounds like? And how it fits into Iron Man 2? And if it’s part of the movie at all, or only plays before the movie in UK cinemas (which is Limey for “theaters”)? Do you think US audiences will get a Lamb of God version of the old Loews theme song or something? I would KILL to hear Randy Blythe howl “THANK YOU FOR COMING TO LOEWS, SIT BACK AND RELAX, ENJOY THE SHOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!”

Iron Man 2 opens in the UK today, but we don’t get it here in the States for another week. So if any of our beloved readers from across the pond check it out, please drop us a line and let us know how the LOG cover plays into the film. Also, don’t forget that Lamb of God have a new song, “Hit the Wall,” in the Iron Man 2 video game, which hits stores this Tuesday, May 4.

-AR

[via The PRP]