Lamb Of God are set to release their album ‘ Into Oblivion’ this friday, you can read an interview with Randy Blythe here

Adam Kennedy: We’re a couple of months into this year now. I think it’s always a good time to reflect on the last 12 months when you’re at the start of a new year. How was last year for yourself and the band?

Randy: It was way busier than I expected it to be. I’m not only a musician, I’m also an author. So, in February 2025 my second book, Just Beyond the Light came out and I went out on a two-leg, month long spoken word tour of America with two Canadian dates. And I went out every night and told stories for two and a half hours then did a 30-minute Q&A. Then signed books for two and a half hours and then flew to a different city and did it again. So that’s kind of how my year started off. And then we went straight into writing. Maybe we had already started writing, I believe. So, I went back to writing the new record. And then I went to California to record the album. And we did a bunch of festival gigs and a cruise and ended the year in Mexico. It felt like it was supposed to be kind of a light year, but it wasn’t at all. So, for me, it was a very busy, but a productive year, you know. I did some guest vocals with other bands as well, including Lacuna Coil. So, it was busy as always.

Adam Kennedy: You’re about to release your new album in March, so it’s coming around very quickly. It’s called Into Oblivion and it’s the first full length release in four years for Lamb of God. How are you feeling ahead of the album release? Are you excited? Are you curious to hear what people think? How are you feeling in general about the release?

Randy: I feel pretty good about it. I mean, I try not to have really preconceived notions of how something’s going to go. You know, how it will be accepted in that particular moment, because sometimes records come out and they don’t immediately connect with people, and then later they do. But overall, I feel good about it. I think with this record we had some more time in between it and the previous record. The last record was supposed to come out in April 2020, but COVID happened, so we kept delaying it, but then it came out. Finally, we were like, we can’t delay this anymore. It came out in June 2020, I think. And then we didn’t tour it.
So, it was very strange to make a record and not tour it, because that’s been the entirety of my adult life basically – write, record, tour. And nobody was touring, and our record label was like, well, we’ll take another record. So, we immediately wrote another record. And to me, it felt rushed. And I understand why we did it, because my guys have kids and they’re expensive and nobody’s making any money not touring. So, we wrote that record. But this one, there’s more time in between. And I like it better than the last one.

Adam Kennedy: Into Oblivion – I love the title of the record. I think when I hear that title, there’s just so many thoughts that go through my head, particularly with the kind of apocalyptic world we’re living in right now. Everything feels like it’s slipping into oblivion?

Randy: Chaos and dismay.

Adam Kennedy: I can’t turn on the news without seeing some horrendous story. And so I was wondering, in terms of the title and the title track, were those the sort of things that you wanted to get off your chest to write about the political and cultural events that are happening in the world presently today?

Randy: Well, that’s what I get off my chest with every single record. I’ve been doing this for 30 years. And from the very first song I ever wrote for this band, it was sociopolitical commentary. We’re not a smooth R&B band. We don’t write love songs, you know? And as the late great Nina Simone said, it’s the duty of the artist to reflect the times. I think this record does.
Interestingly enough though, I wrote most of the lyrics on the record but my guitar player, Mark, he writes lyrics sometimes. And then sometimes we co-write. So, he started the song into Oblivion and that song, originally, from what I understand from him, from his initial verse and chorus, was much more an internal looking song. It was much more looking at the inner psychological battles that we all fight in one way or the other, not so much external chaos.
When I got the song, I definitely turned it more towards external chaos. So, the song kind of has two meanings. He’s the one who suggested it as the title track, and we thought, well, it just fits. But I don’t think when he started writing the song, he was thinking about the apocalyptic world we live in, you know? I think he was thinking more internal stuff. I tend to write a bit more externally, a little bit more social commentary. He’s more of an inner artist

Adam Kennedy: It’s interesting to hear there’s a duality to that song there. Sepsis was one of the first tracks to be released since 2022 and that song kind of pays homage to the early 90s Richmond, Virginia underground scene that you guys came out of. I’m quite interested in that era of the band. As one of the bigger metal bands in the world, how does it feel kind of looking back on that period of the band’s career and what do you recollect about those early days coming through as a band in the underground scene?

Randy: Musically, it certainly does reflect that era and what a lot of us were listening to in that era. Lyrically, not so much. It’s much more modern day. But Mark was referring more to the actual guitars and drums and bass. Although there is some vocal delivery that harks back to some of the stuff we were listening to then as well, to be fair. I think in looking back on that time period, I just feel you don’t want to be the old man shaking your fist at the sky and saying how much better things were back in the day. Because it doesn’t really matter, we’re here now. You have to make the most of here right now. But when I think of those times, there are certain things that I’m very, very grateful that I got to experience that simply doesn’t exist today. We got to become a band and learn how to be a band and write our songs back when the regional music scene still existed. I feel that with the advent of the internet and everything being available to anyone, anywhere, all the time, the regional scene is kind of dead. It doesn’t really exist anymore, at least not in rock so much. When I came up in the 1980s and into the 1990s, there were very distinctive regional sounds, at least here in America, within the sort of underground punk, hardcore and metal scenes. New Orleans had a very specific sound, slower and sludgy; Washington, DC had Discord Records; New York had New York Hardcore; Chicago had Touch and Go and Amphetamine Reptiles, these weird noise rock kind of bands.
They all sort of stewed in their own creative juices and learned from each other and developed this sort of regional identity. Richmond definitely had its own regional identity, which has informed us. I feel very, very lucky to have experienced that rather than the data overload that is the world today.
I also feel lucky to have experienced discovering music at a time when to find new music, you had to go to the record store, or someone had to tell you about it. Even finding out about shows, there was no internet. You had to go to the record store and look in the window and see a flyer and you’d think who is that? Maybe you recognised one band, but you went there, and you got to hear whoever else was playing and you couldn’t go on your phone and be like, what do these guys sound like? Do I want to go give them a chance? You just had to go and pay your $5 and sometimes it was magic.
Sometimes it wasn’t, but there was a mystery to it and an excitement to it that I think is absent in today’s world. I think when everything is accessible everywhere at all times, it kills the mystery and life is not much without mystery, I don’t believe.
Those things from our time growing up as a band, I cherish very much. I feel very fortunate to have become a musician during those times when they still existed. That being said, I don’t want to be the old man shaking his fist at the sky again because there’s a lot of stuff that sucked about those days too that I’m glad is gone. There are pros and cons to everything.

Adam Kennedy: Did you ever think at that point in time, as a band coming out of the underground scene, that you could see the trajectory, the path?

Randy: Absolutely not. Are you crazy? No way. When we formed the band, our original name was Burn the Priest. You don’t join a band called Burn the Priest if you think you’re going to play in front of 100,000 people at a festival in the United Kingdom. You don’t join a band called Burn the Priest if you think you’re going to go play Madison Square Garden. You don’t join a band called Burn the Priest if you think, one day we’ll have our own cruise ship where we can invite all our friends for a floating festival. That’s not what you’re thinking. All of those things have happened to us, but it was
never, ever a thought in my mind. I never thought we’d ever be able to make a living doing this stuff. It’s just something we enjoy doing. You make music because it’s in you.

Adam Kennedy: From the underground days, one album that I wanted to touch upon was Ashes of the Wake, which is such a seminal album. It’s been rated by Metal Hammer as the fifth greatest metal album of the 21st century, which is an incredible thing to say.

Randy: Compliment.

Adam Kennedy: Tell us a little bit about that period of time within the band. Did you know you were onto something special at the time?

Randy: I think the time period where I knew something special was happening was right before that. Several of our compatriots, that we used to literally play in people’s basements with and at house parties, were all touring together and we were playing larger and larger venues together. We were out with Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage, Unearthed and God Forbid. All these bands had been lumped under this moniker, the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, by some journalist. They invented it. We never said we’re the New Wave of American Heavy Metal or whatever. But I remember there was a lot of excitement around all those bands and around this self-contained scene we had created and these friendships. I remember being on tour with those guys and thinking, something special is happening right now. This is a special moment in time. I was very aware of that. The next record that came out in 2004, about a year later, was Ashes of the Wake. The one before was As the Palaces Burn.
When Ashes of the Wake came out, we signed to a major which was very scary. It was a scary time because we were all still working straight jobs and touring. When we’d come home, we’d all go back to work in a restaurant or working construction, roofing, and so forth.
We signed with a major label to put out Ashes of the Wake, and we had to make a decision, like, are we going to try and be real professional musicians or is this going to be a weekend warrior kind of thing? We made the decision to take a chance and try and be professional musicians, which was very scary because it doesn’t work out most of the time. Statistically, it doesn’t. There is no secret you can implement that will guarantee I’m going to be a successful artist. It was frightening.
I thought what was going to happen was that it was going to be a Sex Pistols Great Rock and Roll Swindle situation where we got signed to them and they were like, what is this? And then they would drop us, and we’d take the money and run. And then go back to a small label. I thought that’s exactly what was going to happen. Astonishingly, it didn’t happen.
We went out on tour the summer of 2004 on Ozzfest. We had been invited to do that, and we were one of three headliners on the second stage. It was us, Hatebreed and Slipknot playing the second stage. We got exposed to a lot of people and the record came out while we were out on that tour.
Something definitely shifted then within our lives as a band because it was like, holy cow, we can actually pay bills doing this. The crowds we were playing for at Ozzfest were big. It was a shift in the band. It was a shift within our lives. I mostly remember it as being exciting but scary at first. Because I’m used to working a job, dude. How am I going to pay my rent if this doesn’t work out?

Adam Kennedy: I think with a lot of bands, people don’t realise that about going out on tour and then coming back and working in a restaurant. Everybody thinks they’re making money.

Randy: The joke in our old town in Richmond, was always what is a musician without a girlfriend? Homeless. That was the truth for me. I’d come off tour and we were riding in tour buses and I’m signing autographs. I’d come home and I’d be like, honey, can I have some money for a pack of cigarettes?
Then I’d go back and work at a restaurant for a little bit until it’s time to do it again. I know bands that have been around for a long, long time, they have fans and so forth. These people still work regular jobs. You do it because you love it.

Adam Kennedy: We were talking before about Into Oblivion and you mentioned that you liked this album more than the previous record. I was curious, how do you feel it sits within the context of the whole Lamb of God catalogue?

Randy: I don’t know yet. That’s impossible to know. It’s not out yet. We haven’t pressure tested the songs live yet. One of the most exciting things for me about releasing a record is going out on tour and seeing what songs are going to connect with an audience. But right now, I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know how it’s going to connect. I know personally that I like it better than the last one.

Adam Kennedy: Other tracks came out and the fans have got to hear some of this stuff. Parasocial Christ, which has been described as a three-minute onslaught, is a great title for any marketing guy. It makes me immediately want to pick up the record and listen to it. Just tell us a little bit about that song and the inspiration behind it?

Randy: I don’t think the initial inspiration for that song would have happened in the UK but here in the United States, I don’t know if you heard, that they were going to make TikTok illegal at one point. Do you remember that? People lost their mind. They completely went crazy. They were like, this is the end of the world. They’re taking away my TikTok.
And you had people who were like, I’ve built my whole career around this; this is my way of expressing myself. How can you do this to me? And I was looking at this, and I thought, how ridiculous. How ridiculous that you have put all your eggs in this basket. This is your sole means of making money, of artistic expression, of communication, and such a huge part of your identity. You’ve placed all this within the control of a Chinese-owned corporation, that you have no stake in whatsoever. You have built your entire life around this thing that you have zero agency within. Zero. And I thought that was so ridiculous.
And in thinking about that, it led me to start thinking about how much attention people pay to other people’s lives online, whether it be entertainers or actors, musicians or politicians, and the sort of banal minutia of other people’s lives. It’s easy to pick on them, but you think of someone like the Kardashians. Why are they famous? Why does anybody care what they do? They are rich people who created this weird attention economy around them. They’re not rocket scientists. They’re not curing cancer. Who gives a fuck what they do? But there’s plenty of people that can tell you every single thing about them, and they’re just one example.
But it made me think about how much people pay attention to other people’s lives while releasing agency within their own lives, while giving up control over their own lives, over their time and over their attention. It seems foolish to me to pay that much attention to someone that you’ll never meet who doesn’t know that you exist at all. That’s what inspired that song.
It was this odd surrendering of time to something utterly pointless, in my opinion. Time is really the only thing we have, and it’s in a finite supply.

Adam Kennedy: This record was recorded across multiple locations. You recorded at Total Access Studio in Redondo Beach, which was also the birthplace of records by Black Flag and Husker Du and the Descendants and such like. When you’re working in a place like that which has created such magic, what is it like recording there? How did it feel recording in such a key location with great musical history?

Randy: Well, I didn’t know. I didn’t pick the studio, but our producer, Josh Wilbur, who’s basically the sixth member of Lamb of God, is very familiar with me as a person. He’s familiar with my musical taste. He’s familiar with my environmental preferences, which means nothing too fancy. I like things to be simple.
He told me, look, dude, I found this great studio. You’re going to love to come work here. I’m like, OK. Then I walked in, and I looked on the wall and the little room and the entrance and the foyer and you see several hundred records. You see Black Flag and Descendants and Husker Du and Minutemen and St. Vitus. I was like, oh, I’m home now because that’s the world I came from. I don’t come from the heavy metal world. I grew up listening to a lot of punk rock. I just thought it was a cool place. I really enjoy history, general history, but I also particularly enjoy the artistic history of locations.
When I’m in Paris, I will go to the cafes where Hemingway hung out because I want to soak up some of that vibe, because he was such a great writer. When I’m in Chile, I go to Pablo Neruda’s house, La Chascona, and walk around and feel the vibe of the poet there. Being in a place where records were created that I had listened to since high school was amazing. I enjoy soaking up that cultural vibe there.
The owner of the studio was amazing. I just sat there and bothered him all day for old punk rock stories. I’m like, tell me about when Black Flag did this. He’s telling me crazy stories about Henry Rollins freaking out and getting on the roof of the studio and the police being called one night. Just great stuff.

Adam Kennedy: I was curious when you mentioned those locations, the cafes in Paris and such, have you ever been to Caffé Florian in Venice? That was where a lot of the Renaissance writers and poets went to. It’s in St. Mark’s Square and it’s very, very cool. It’s a very similar kind of vibe to the one that you mentioned?

Randy: No, I have not been to Venice yet and that is on my list. I know the cafe that you’re discussing, but I haven’t been to Venice yet. I’d love to go. But sadly, the Italians are disgusted with over-tourism from what I understand.

Adam Kennedy: You mentioned there about your fascination with punk rock and those kinds of bands. I was just wondering as a punk rock aficionado, where did you love punk rock start?

Randy: In the sixth grade I went to a summer camp for gifted and talented students, at the University of Virginia. I went there in the summer of the sixth grade, and we got to study and get college credit. And while I was there, I was a skateboarder.
I met this other guy who was also a skateboarder, and he was asking about the music I was listening to, and I was listening to like basically what was available on the radio at the time because I lived in this little, tiny town with no record store. And he’s like, oh man, you need to check this out. And he
gave me a dubbed cassette tape, and I put it in and the first song I heard was Holidays in the Sun by the Sex Pistols and it’s the first track, of course, on Never Mind the Bollocks. And instantly my life changed.
Instantly. I was like, OK, this is real stuff. I didn’t understand a lot of it because there were a lot of cultural references to Thatcher’s England. For instance, he sings about another council tenancy at one point. I’m like, I have no idea of what a council estate is at that time. I live in South East Virginia. I don’t know anything about London or England really, but I could tell that there was venom and vehemence in his voice, and he wasn’t a perfect singer, but it didn’t matter, and the music was aggressive and hard edged and that was the first punk rock I ever heard. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols immediately changed my life. Immediately and from there I started finding other bands and going to shows in high school and becoming involved in that scene and immersed myself within it.

Adam Kennedy: Like you said, the Sex Pistols, they kind of came out of the glory days of the punk era here in the UK in 1977. The bands that were popping off like the Buzzcocks and the Clash, everything like that?

Randy: X-Ray Spex.

Adam Kennedy: All those bands were really defining what that sound was and what that genre was. Obviously, coming from the States, how much would you say that the UK punk rock scene shaped your love for the genre?

Randy: Well, it’s funny because punk rock was born in America. It comes from New York City. It was born at CBGB’s and then it was much more of an arty kind of scene there with Blondie and the Ramones. I guess the closest thing to sort of UK punk that came out at that time would be the Dead Boys from Cleveland. But it was much more of an artistic scene, not so political in the 70s at CBGB’s.
UK punk, of course, speaking of Thatcher’s England, things were grim. Everybody’s on the fucking dole and they’re pissed. So, it added this sort of social commentary, the socio-political commentary to it and that was absent in the American punk scene at the time. So, that was funny, man, being in sixth grade and finding out about the Sex Pistols. I thought that punk rock only came from England, and I was a snotty little kid and people started trying to play me stuff like Black Flag that I really love now, but I’m like, that’s not punk rock. That’s not English.
So, I was a snotty little kid then and, of course, eventually I came to love American punk rock and hardcore. But that sort of political awareness very much shaped me, and the political awareness in the UK punk scene, like Richard Hell and all those that went over to England and played and, of course, the Sex Pistols heard them. And then, of course, they brought heroin into the UK punk scene, which is not great either. But then the UK bands came over here and they shaped the American punk scene and made it more political.
And it’s kind of like; it’s a circular relationship that I’ve found really beautiful. But the UK punk scene is hugely important to me, and hugely important, and the latter stuff, to what we call extreme metal or thrash metal, because I know the guys who created that too. I’m friends with Metallica, and I know Slayer, and all those guys listen to punk rock. One band that across the board you’ll hear them talk about is Discharge. And they’re mates of mine as well. So, it’s like this circular thing. It was born in the Lower East Side of New York and then kind of swirled over to England, and then it came back. It’s a beautiful thing.
So, yeah, all that UK punk most definitely shaped me in a big way, and I still listen to it this day. I just watched a beautiful film the other night with my girlfriend called I Am a Cliché, about Poly Styrene. I don’t know if you’ve seen it? X-Ray Specs. Her daughter did it. It’s a beautiful film and I highly recommend it. And it made me listen to some old UK punk immediately after.

Adam Kennedy: It’s interesting you mention Discharge. I can’t remember if I was either interviewing Max Cavalera, or if it was when he was performing the last time I saw the band, and he had a leather jacket …?

Randy: Max loves Discharge.

Adam Kennedy: … with Discharge across the back?

Randy: Yes, Dude. Their speed and aggression, it informed the playing of those early thrash metal guys. It really did. It informed the later guys, like the dudes in At the Gates in Sweden. I know the twins, because I toured with them as Haunted. I would talk to them about Discharge, and they were like, oh yeah, fucking Discharge. Great band. Shout out to Stoke on Trent’s Finest.

Adam Kennedy: In terms of your record collection, what would you say are your go-to punk rock records? If you had to pick five, which are your favourites?

Randy: Ooh, if I had to pick five? Well, Discharge – Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing; Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols; Bad Brains – self-titled cassette. God, this is tough, dude. Corrosion of Conformity – Animosity. It’s a little outside of the box, but still
considered punk rock. Big Black – Songs About Fucking. Or Atomizer by Big Black.

Adam Kennedy: After the album release, you’re going on tour. I guess that’s the end product of releasing an album, you hit the road. So, you’ve got some shows coming up in North America. How much are you looking forward to touring with this record?

Randy: It’s interesting, as I get older, before the time comes to tour, I’m just like, oh my God. Because it hurts, you know? I just turned 55 and I’m a pretty aggressive frontman. But once I’m out on stage, once we’re out on tour and the machine has started, I really enjoy it.
And that’s really the coolest thing. I mentioned it, though, that for me, the thing about releasing records is the pressure testing of the songs in front of an audience and seeing what will connect. So, I have no idea of how the record is going to be taken, really, until I go out and play the songs. I think that’s the proving ground, I think that’s where it matters. You know, can this translate live?

Adam Kennedy: From a UK point of view, you’re going to be coming over here to headline Bloodstock, which is obviously one of the biggest metal festivals in the UK. How much are you looking forward to Bloodstock? And how important is the UK market to Lamb of God?

Randy: The UK market is really important to us. We’ve done extremely well right there from the beginning. The first time we ever played the UK, we got asked to open up for Slayer, two shows at London Astoria. I think we had been to Canada, maybe, but other than that, we hadn’t left the country and that doesn’t really count because you can drive to Canada. But we flew to London and played two sold-out shows opening up for Slayer at the London Astoria. And people actually knew the words and stuff. We were kind of freaked out. We were like, whoa, they actually know about us all the way over here. And they were big shows, sold-out shows. Slayer did Reign in Blood in its entirety. And then we stayed and played three more shows, Nottingham, Oxford and Leeds, I think, playing in pubs. And of course, 50 people showed up. So, we realised, OK, we’re not huge. They were just there for Slayer.
But knowing that people actually knew of us was a big deal. So yeah, the UK has always been great to us, just a lovely, lovely place. One of the earliest international audiences we connected with, for sure.
And then as far as Bloodstock, it’s going to be great, 25 years. The last time we played was amazing because I got to watch Killing Joke. They played that day, and I got to stand right there, on stage right by Geordie and just watch him make that insane sound with his guitar. It was just lovely. And Bloodstock is cool because it is massive. It’s a big festival, but it feels really independent. And it’s run by, I don’t know, people who just love that particular genre of music. So, it’s going to be a good time.

Adam Kennedy: Well, the last question I’ve got for you, Randy. You’ve obviously got a busy year ahead with this record coming out. Do you know how the rest of 2026 looks for the band? Have you kind of got the year mapped out?

Randy: Yeah. Let’s see, the record comes out. We tour the States. We play some festivals. Then we go to the UK to do festivals, some more festivals in the us. Then we have a cruise we do every year, Headbangers Boat. And I think there’s one other thing thrown in there that’s not announced yet. Hopefully that’ll get announced soon, but it’s going to be a busy year all the way to the end of 2026.

Adam Kennedy: Well, thank you so much for the time. It’s been lovely chatting to you and thank you for all those insightful answers. And good luck with the record release, we’ll see you over here in the UK for Bloodstock.

Randy: Yes, sir. Cheers to you.

Words – Adam Kennedy 2026