Lamb of God recently released their new album, Omens, and the veteran metal band is in the midst of a headlining US tour in support of the LP. Heavy Consequence caught up with singer Randy Blythe at the tour’s kickoff in Brooklyn, New York, to discuss the new album and so much more.
Blythe is one of metal’s premier frontmen, delivering an explosive performance at the show we witnessed in Coney Island last month. The vocalist is also one of the genre’s most intriguing figures, offering strong opinions and thoughts on sociopolitical topics both in the band’s songs and in his interviews.
In discussing Omens, Blythe readily admitted that the pandemic was the “entire reason” why Lamb of God were able to turn around a new album relatively quickly after releasing their self-titled effort in 2020.
“I had zero plans on writing a new record,” Blythe told us backstage before the band’s Brooklyn gig (watch above). “That record came out in June of 2020. It is now September 2022. Probably, theoretically, we’d still be touring on [the self-titled album]. None of that happened, so … my guitar player Mark [Morton] loves going into the studio, unlike me (laughs), so I guess it was time to do another record.”
The result is a powerful album that is one of the band’s heaviest in years. During the course of our conversation, Blythe discussed the standout tracks “Nevermore,” “To the Grave,” “Omens,” and “September Song.” But it was our question about the song “Grayscale” that led to a hilarious, if not somewhat salacious, scoop about his Blythe’s new hardcore project.
“That song, originally, [guitarist] Willie [Adler] and I came up with the idea for the greatest name for a hardcore band ever: Gorilla Dick,” revealed Blythe. “This was all over the news … there were two gorillas in a zoo in like San Diego, I think, a male and a female gorilla. And the male gorilla started pleasuring the female gorilla with his mouth. And all these people are watching like, ‘Ohhhh!'”
He continued, “And I was like, ‘Yeah, that gorilla knows what’s up. He’s gonna get a blow job. He’s gonna get a gorilla blow job later ’cause he’s handling his business and taking care of his lady first.’ And Willie was like, “Yeah, he’s gonna get his gorilla dick sucked later.’ And then we started thinking about it, and we were like, ‘Gorilla Dick – that’s gotta be the most evil dick in the world.’ ‘Cause a gorilla will rip you to pieces. … So, we’re like, ‘That’s the perfect name for a hardcore band, Gorilla Dick.'”
It gets even funnier from there, when Blythe and Adler came to realize that gorillas aren’t well-endowed at all, but as the singer pointed out, that “makes it even better” as a name for a hardcore band. And if you think Blythe was joking, it’s really happening. “We are gonna do eventually a Gorilla Dick album, so watch out,” he insisted.
[editors-picks id=”1239235″]
Elsewhere in the interview, Blythe offered his thoughts on the recently announced Pantera reunion, as well as Lamb of God’s decision to recruit guest singers when he contracted COVID on the band’s spring tour with Megadeth.
Watch our interview with Randy Blythe above, and catch Lamb of God on the remainder of their current headlining US tour. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Trouble viewing the interview in the video player above? Watch on YouTube.
