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Randy Blythe reveals why Lamb Of God's upcoming album simply can't be about Donald Trump
Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe has spoken exclusively to Kerrang! about their upcoming self-titled album, and why it isn't directly influenced by Donald Trump.
Describing their forthcoming full-length as "political", Randy explains that it isn't a warcry against the United States President because time moves too fast, and whatever he writes will be outdated almost instantly.
“I can’t write about the Trump administration because it changes so quick,” Randy tells Kerrang!. “And if you look at the UK with Brexit, everything changes so fast it would be a fruitless exercise to try to pin a theme on one specific political topic. I wanted to look at the broader, wide-angle view of our global society, and figure out what has allowed this environment to occur."
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He reveals to Kerrang! that their track Gears was the starting point for record, which deals with our capitalist and consumerist society. From then, the other nine tracks blossomed.
"I thought about this insane consumer culture in which the Western world lives," he continues. "I thought about this crazy dependence on technology, this reverence for material possessions, this false sense of self and wellness that is put forth by the media and social media. Where did all this start?”
Lamb Of God released the first taste of their new LP last week with Checkmate, a track that rallies against the American political system as a whole.
“There’s not a single song [on the album] about an individual," Randy told Kerrang!. “When we had [George W. Bush] during the (2004 album) Ashes Of The Wake era, he was a whole lot easier to write specifics about because we had the war in Iraq, the mythical weapons of mass destruction, but right now, the political world everywhere looks like Peewee Herman’s playhouse.
“They are two sides of the same coin... Civility and discourse is at an all time low, and that’s because people view political parties now not for their policies, but they support these different parties like sports teams. The lyrics reflect that. The system is a fucking fraud.”
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Lamb Of God's new album will be released on May 8 via Epic Records. To dive deeper into the record, and Randy’s own headspace, can read our full, world-exclusive interview with the man himself in the new issue of Kerrang! magazine.
You can also get a very special, limited collectors’ edition package containing this week’s magazine and a stunning A2 four-colour process lithographic print, produced on 200gsm uncoated stock. Only 300 of these prints exist anywhere in the world.
Kerrang.Newsstand.co.uk is the only place you can order this exclusive package – with worldwide delivery! – so don’t hang about if you want to get your hands on one.