We were caught a bit off guard when Lamb of God premiered their track "Overlord," which features the first instance of frontman Randy Blythe doing completely clean singing. It was jarring but certainly interesting, and for all purposes worked for me. Some people weren't as welcoming to the new evolution of the band's sound.
Blythe was interviewed earlier this week by former God Forbid guitarist Doc Coyle for VH1.com and explained how the clean vocals came about:
We just do what we do. I give absolutely zero thought to whether what I’m doing is going to piss off fans. And I think our fans respect us because of that. We play exactly what we want to play. And I think if you start writing music to appease someone else, then real fans are going to be able to tell. They’re totally gonna be able to tell. So I mean, like I said, there is a song with clean singing on this record, but it happened really organically. Willie was just play some blues riff, and he sent them to me, and I was listening to them along with some other songs, and I was like, “Holy cow, I could actually sing on this.” For the first time in our career, there’s pretty much a whole song I sing clean, and it wasn’t this calculated thing where I’m like, “I’m gonna write a clean song and Randy’s gonna sing or whatever.” It just sorta happened, and it’s what Willie wanted to do while he was writing it. I don’t think he had any forethought of changing or whatever. But we’re consistent, ya know…we’re just a metal band, dude. Much to my chagrin, we’re a metal band. I wanted to be in a punk rock band back in the day. I thought I was gonna be the Johnny Rotten of the South. Somehow, I ended up in a freaking metal band. It’s what we do. Mark does some stuff on his own. Willie does stuff on his own. I did music for the ballet, and I’m sure I’ll do another band eventually that’s not heavy metal, but Lamb of God is just metal. It’s just what we do.
Blythe was then asked if being in Lamb of God feels like a job:
Randy Blythe: Absolutely. Absolutely dude. Especially since we haven’t had enough time off, and we need to make some money. (laughs) So it is work, ya know. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my job, but it’s my job. I don’t have a plan…well, I do have a plan B, that’s being executed right now: I wrote a book, I did a photography exhibit, all that stuff, but there’s no retirement plan in this business, as you know. So it’s time to make a record, it’s time to go on tour, it’s time to do what we do in order to make a living and feed our families. And some people don’t like that, when you say it like that, and this is before their romantic idea of what being in a band is, but romance doesn’t pay your mortgage. (laughs)
Doc Coyle: That’s true. Love don’t pay the bills, baby. (laughs)
Randy Blythe: No, it doesn’t pay the bills. So no, screaming and stuff is not something I feel the need to do anymore. There’s not a burning desire inside.
So fans don't need to go and freak out just yet. But know that Blythe is exploring all options in his art.
Lamb of God's VII: Sturm und Drang comes out July 24th.
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