In a recent interview with Hardlore, LAMB OF GOD vocalist Randy Blythe opened up about the band’s approach to creating their tenth studio album, Into Oblivion, which is set for release on March 13 via Epic Records.
When asked about how the band approached the writing process, Blythe said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), “Much in the same way we went about approaching album number nine, number eight, number seven.”
He went on to reflect on how the band has evolved over the years: “I think the biggest difference with us as a band, particularly over the last — I don’t know — five or six years, is we have consciously tried to shelve the ego individual members have and try and keep in mind the greater whole. ‘Cause when you’re a younger band — and we’re five very different people — when you’re a younger band, it’s, like, nobody hands you a handbook, ‘This is how you be a band.’ But you’re so passionate and it’s so important to you, and what you put into the music is so personal that when someone says, ‘Eh, I don’t know about that,’ in the band, then you’re, like, [hurt]. And we were very contentious for a long time — writing was very contentious. Somehow in our old age, as we wander off into Alzheimer’s-riddled legacy territory, we’ve learned to get along better than we ever did. So we get along great now. And it’s because, I think, when we’re writing, we’re all, like… There’s a quote attributed to [American playwright and screenwriter] Tennessee Williams: ‘You must be willing to murder your darlings.’ Meaning your contribution, your art cannot be so precious that if someone else looks at it and is, like, ‘That doesn’t serve the greater whole,’ you gotta cut it. And it’s painful. So for us, we’ve kind of learned as a group to sort of shelve the individual egos and think more about the whole.”
Blythe also emphasized the band’s guiding principle during the creative process: “We have a saying: better is better. It sounds stupid, but it’s true. And me, just as much as any of the other dudes, have certainly been guilty of, like, ‘I love this, but this is how exactly it works.’ And then somebody [goes], ‘But what about this?’ And it’s a hard thing, when you care about something so much and you’ve put in so much time, to have someone be, like, ‘Eh. I don’t know.’ But better is better. So we try and say that to ourselves.”
When the conversation turned to the band’s decision to update their logo on the Into Oblivion cover — their first logo change in 27 years — Blythe admitted the old design had run its course: “Well, our logo, to be perfectly honest, needed changing. It’s the papyrus font [that we used for the old LAMB OF GOD logo]. And had we known 20-however many years ago that we would wind up looking like a falafel restaurant menu, we wouldn’t have used that. But that was before papyrus font was ubiquitous.”
Into Oblivion finds LAMB OF GOD embracing their position as modern metal veterans, beholden to no one, with nothing left to prove. The 10-song collection references the band’s roots, doubles down on their signature groove, and expands their approach, resulting in an album that feels both deliberate and untethered.
Produced and mixed by longtime studio collaborator Josh Wilbur, Into Oblivion was recorded across multiple locations tied closely to the band’s identity. Drums were tracked in Richmond, Va., with guitars and bass recorded at Morton’s home studio. Blythe recorded his vocals at the legendary Total Access studio in Redondo Beach, Calif., the birthplace of seminal punk records by BLACK FLAG, HÜSKER DÜ, and DESCENDENTS.
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