Lamb of God
Interview with drummer Chris Adler
by Chris Fox
November 2012
Lamb of God
As the tides turn, bands come and go. Scenes change, but occasionally there is a band that manages to beat the odds and attract massive crowds with abrasive music. Enter LAMB OF GOD. These metal heavyweights will be hitting The Rave in Milwaukee, and they are sure to provoke a massive gathering of metalheads.
LAMB OF GOD is self-described as, “simply put, modern heavy metal,” according to drummer Chris Adler. The quintet’s unmistakable sound has helped to set a new standard for metal for the current generation by combining their past influences with their growing repertoire. Adler explains, “We try to combine as many different styles as we can to create something that is relevant to today’s listeners. We came along at a pretty special moment when a new generation was kind of catching onto heavy music.”
As with any band worth their salt, LAMB OF GOD has changed over their twenty-plus years playing music. When they started, “everybody in the band was just trying to show off. Over time we’ve really matured and grown into the process of song writing. Which we’ve gotten better at with time, and hopefully we’ll continue to get better at,” says Adler. The band has really come into its own method of writing and overall sound with their most recent album, “Resolution”. He continues, “We were able to finally expand on ideas that we had had before, that maybe didn’t fit with the precise goal of what we going for on any given album. “Resolution” shows what we’ve done in the past, but it allowed us to experiment and go in an even newer direction. It has always been the five of us in a room arguing over which riff is going to come better after this riff.”
Their music has developed and evolved, but their fan base has only grown. “I think along the way, we built up a very grassroots audience because of the way we were doing it,” Adler says about playing with veracity, “We write music that we want to write – because of that, it took much longer for us to turn around a successful product, but it was worth the 10 years of losing money to be able to do it with integrity.”
The recently publicized incarceration of their singer, Randy Blythe, hasn’t taken a toll on the band. “It was pretty terrifying. We’re in another country, and who knows what’s going to happen to him if they take him out of this room,” explains Adler. Blythe was held for over a month in a Czech prison on charges associating him with the death of a fan in the country back in 2010. He is out on bail currently, but plans to return for his hearing early next year. The band had to cancel their summer tour, and concern grew about Blythe and the future of the band. “Then we heard from him, saying that regardless of what happened, the day he got out, he wanted to get back up on stage and play,” says Adler.
As the band reestablishes their presence, they are touring the country with a rejuvenated ambition. The future is foggy for Blythe, but in the meantime, their shows are sure to be as crazy and intense as ever. An almost certainly sold-out show will be at The Rave on November 9 as LAMB OF GOD hits the stage with HATEBREED and IN FLAMES.
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Lamb of God
CD: Resolution Record Label: Epic
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