See Lamb of God's Randy Blythe Make Case for Why Country Is Darker Than Metal | Revolver

See Lamb of God's Randy Blythe Make Case for Why Country Is Darker Than Metal

"Some of the darkness in metal is cartoon darkness"

On July 6th, Devildriver will release Outlaws 'Til the End, their new outlaw country covers album featuring Lamb of God's Randy Blythe and Mark Morton, Fear's Lee Ving, Fear Factory's Burton C. Bell, 36 Crazyfist's Brock Lindlow, Hank3 and Wednesday 13. In the latest episode of the album's accompanying video interview series, the band's Dez Fafara and the aforementioned guests break down the dark lyrical tropes characteristic of outlaw country: tales of two-timing spouses, far-gone alcoholics, eternal loneliness and the like. Additionally, Blythe states his case for why country might actually be darker than heavy metal itself.

"Some of the darkness in metal is cartoon darkness," Blythe explains at the 1:06 mark. "Satan doesn't exist. Whoever's watching this, if you have a brain, you know that and if you didn't know that, then Satan is not real. I'm sorry to break the news to you, [but] the devil does not exist. But heartache, and alcoholism, and not having any money, and just feeling disliked and unwanted by the entire rest of the world? Those are all very real things. There's no disputing that."

"The little red man with the pitchfork, that's disputable, that's something you can't see, but you can see broken men and women everywhere," he adds. "That's what those songs are ultimately about — broken spirits."

Blythe — who took on Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River" and Stan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" for the album — goes on to conclude that the best country songs find happiness in sorrow. "Somebody said listening to country music would either make you feel better, or worse in an awesome way," observes the LOG frontman. "I don't know how to describe the feeling. It's like, I understand, man!"

Earlier this month, Lamb of God dropped their own covers album, Legion: XX, recorded under the band's original name Burn the Priest, it collects their takes on songs by bands who influenced Blythe and his bandmates in their early days, among them cuts by the Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Ministry and Big Black.