Lamb Of God are not your run of the mill metal band. Since their debut album was released at the turn of the millennium the Richmond natives have stood apart from their contemporaries, feted by critics and held close to the hearts of a passionate set of fans.
When the band's frontman, Randy Blythe, was arrested in the Czech Republic back in 2012, charged with manslaughter following the tragic death of a fan at a Lamb Of God show in Prague a couple of years earlier, their future was thrown into doubt.
Following his acquittal, the band are set to release a new documentary, As The Palaces Burn, which focuses on his trial and its aftermath, and are currently wrapping up a UK tour. We caught up with guitarist Willie Adler before their incendiary London show at Brixton Academy to discuss all things heavy.
The new documentary, As The Palaces Burn, was originally going to focus on fans of the band. Randy's trial changed this.
It's a document of our lives for the past year or year and a half, nearly two years. I'm glad that the cameras were there to document everything that they did. I was really excited when the first premise came out that the film would be pointed away from the band, but obviously we can't escape the camera. It's hard to say at this point exactly what it means to me – again, I'm glad they were there, but we'll see. It's something that's very personal and close to home. I don't want to say that it's hard to let other people watch, but it's definitely different.
Randy's arrest put the brakes on the band for obvious reasons. You must have a busy year ahead of you following up ‘Resolution’.
We have less than a handful of one-off shows in 2014 that we're committed to doing. Other than that, it's just nose to the grindstone and writing new material. We just need to get the ball rolling. Mark [Morton, guitar] and I have started writing a few riffs at home, which is where the whole process starts. The riffs are skeletons of the songs, which Mark and I will then demo at home and bring in. In terms of material being written, I'm a little bit more ahead of the game this time round, as is Mark. Who knows if it's actually going to make it onto the finished record, but I'm glad that I've started writing new stuff – it forces me to get into the right mindset.
You're headlining a sold-out gig at Brixton Academy, and 'Resolution' charted in the upper reaches of the US Billboard Charts, yet your music isn't the most accessible thing in the world.
I really don't know why we're so successful and heard by so many, but I'm thankful for it. I don't know if it's just a testament to our passion, because we love what we do. There's so much emotion and creativity poured into everything we do, and it's quite flattering that we have fans all over the world that really dig us. But you're right. For such a brutal style of music, it's really hard to put your finger on exactly the attraction that we have to a massive audience. But it's cool.
Lamb Of God just seems to keep getting bigger and bigger, too. There doesn't seem to be any signs of that changing.
Obviously we're getting older and we have families, but this is what we live for. This is what we love. I've not had a passion for anything in my life like I do for this band. To be able to create music with the guys is something that I look forward to doing for many years to come as long as the five of us are all happy with one another and with what we're doing, and as long as we're stoked and excited about what we're doing. Creating and playing music is still so exciting for us. I don't see an end for Lamb Of God.
'Resolution' ends with a track called King Me. It's completely unlike anything Lamb Of God have ever written before.
King Me was a moment in time, and it's a departure from what we've done in the past. In fact, it was a real struggle for me to let that happen – I'm extremely glad that it did, and I'm glad that I was open to the ideas when they were presented. When we're writing, it's a reflection of that particular moment. None of us are confined to one particular style or anything like that; obviously it's going to be Lamb Of God, because we have that sound and can't escape from who we are. As far as going outside the box again and doing things we've never tried before, then I'd love to. I'm open to explore anything.
I'd written the front end of King Me, and it was attached to a completely different piece of music. When I brought it to the guys in the band, it didn't get shot down, so to speak, but they said: “We love the beginning, but let's try and work out a whole different section for the rest.” It was something that I worked tirelessly over – it took weeks on end for me to get that song to where it is. When everybody came in on that song to make it what it is now, it evolved into more than just a song. It's an elaborate story of all our lives, really. It's such a huge and epic song, and, like you said, it incorporates things we'd never tried before. A few of us, myself included, were really scared about taking that step to strings, orchestration and operatic singing. I'm really glad that we did it.
You've been on the road for some time supporting 'Resolution', including these European shows. How’s it been?
The tour's going great, man. The UK's been so good to us, and we started in Vienna – Europe was great to us too. This tour is really kicking ass, and I have nobody to thank but the fans for actually showing up and making it what it is. Without them, we wouldn't be there.
Throughout your career, playing live has been a major part of the band’s life. You must have seen some amazing sights.
There's quite a few of them. To be able to walk the Great Wall Of China was really cool. The fact that this life affords us – not financially – the ability to go around the world and see many things that other people would never get to see, it's great. To be able to go to Jerusalem and see the epicentre of religion in all of its facets and forms was incredible. All these crazy places we've been to just amalgamate into this ball of amazing memories.
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