Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe started out as more of a punk rock kid and grew into metal. So who were the major influences on him as he started to develop his vocals? In an interview with Chaoszine, Blythe cites Lee Dorian of Napalm Death (and later of Cathedral) and Kevin Sharp from Brutal Truth as the ones that originally blew his mind. It's also nice to see dudes like Dorian and Sharp getting some love, as they're two super talented guys that deserve any recognition they get.
"Lee Dorian-era Napalm Death. The first era. I love Barney, but I got into Napalm Death before Barney was in the band. The first two Napalm Death records. I really liked Brutal Truth – Kevin Sharp from Brutal Truth. A lot of the more grindcore stuff, you know what I'm saying? Very extreme. That was what really attracted me to it is like, these people are… when I first started doing [metal vocals], I was just doing like, the deep 'Cookie Monster [voice].'
"Then I remember the first time I heard the Napalm Death Scum record, I was like 'what the fuck is that guy doing with his voice? That's crazy.' [Them] or Brutal Truth. Just really extreme shit, and so I started doing that you. Not trying to sound exactly like them, but just to see what kind of weird noises could come out of me. Then as we carried on as a band, I tried not to just sound like one particular thing.
"Every record we do, Mark [Morton] our guitar player calls them 'my characters' – the different pitches or whatever. He's like, 'we need to find a new character. You need to find a new character.' He has different nicknames for them. So with each record, [I] try and expand the voice a little bit."
