Lamb of God have been tearing it up on the road as direct support for Slayer on most legs of the thrash legends’ ongoing farewell tour, and this year the Richmond, Virginia, band is celebrating the 15th anniversary of their landmark album Ashes of the Wake.
In between legs of the Slayer tour, Lamb of God are also working on the follow-up album to 2015’s VII: Sturm und Drang, with plans to hit the studio once they get some time off from the road.
Heavy Consequence caught up with guitarist Willie Adler and bassist John Campbell backstage at the recent Sonic Temple Festival in Ohio to discuss the aforementioned topics (watch the video interview above).
Regarding Ashes of the Wake, Adler told us, “The attitude of the band as whole was basically, ‘Just f*ck everybody!’ And a lot of those songs, there’s no conventional structure to many of them. Take ‘Hourglass’, for instance, it’s just riff after riff after riff. [It was about] how heavy we can make this record.”
As for the band’s next album, Adler said, “It’s definitely priority No. 1, in between all these tours we’ve got lined up … and I feel really good where we’re at with it.” Campbell added, “We go to Europe and do some festivals there, and then we come home and it’s record time.”
When it comes to touring with Slayer, Campbell told us, “Slayer is going out on top, kicking ass, putting out an amazing show. So, it is an honor and a privilege to be out with them … It’s inspiring. I hope we have a long time before we get to go out like that, but I hope we get to go out at least as well as they are.”
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The two musicians were also unfortunately the recent victims of guitar thefts, and they talked about that, as well.
Check out our video interview with Lamb of God’s Willie Adler and John Campbell above, and pick up the 15th anniversary edition of Ashes of the Wake here. Following a summer run in Europe, Lamb of God will return to the States to play the Aftershock and Exit 111 festivals in October.
