Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 966 - Jason Newsted Sets The Record Straight About Why He Left Metallica
Transcript
- 0:33None. What's up everybody, it's your
- 0:46boy late night Kefi here at ghostcultman.com.
- 0:50I am back with another live stream, another show, and try to
- 0:55do a few of these a week. We do the main show every
- 0:57Thursday and I'm trying to be present and build a real engaged
- 1:03community here at Ghost Cult Online.
- 1:08I'm just making sure everybody is catching up on the tick of
- 1:12the tock and the Instagram. The best place to watch this
- 1:14though is YouTube. You can give us super chats,
- 1:16super likes, get your comments bumped up, Twitch, Facebook,
- 1:20Instagram. I'm also hanging out on TikTok.
- 1:23Of course. I like to keep the conversation
- 1:26going. This is going to be a deep dive
- 1:28review of the brand new Lamb of God album, Into Oblivion, which
- 1:31comes out this week on Friday via Epic Records.
- 1:36It's hard to keep track of who's on what record Brooklyn misses
- 1:39here. What is up?
- 1:40Good to see you too. Good to see you too.
- 1:44So much is going on. Not engaged to get married.
- 1:49I'm getting married this summer. I got some travel coming up.
- 1:53I'm going out to cover the Mojave Experience Festival,
- 1:57which we are sponsors of the inaugural and awesome Joshua
- 2:02Tree Festival. I've never been there.
- 2:04It's it's going to be a sick time.
- 2:06And I'm going out there with my buddy and ghost cult
- 2:10collaborator, Wayne Edmond Edwards.
- 2:13Excuse me. Thank you.
- 2:14Thank you very much. Yeah.
- 2:20It's, it's been a whirlwind. It's been a whirlwind.
- 2:25I know a lot of people are on the struggle bus.
- 2:27I hope everybody is OK with everything going on in the
- 2:30world, but I'm hoping some metal life and some metal reviews will
- 2:35bring the blood flowing and get you pumped up and amped up.
- 2:38Boy, if this Lamb of God record doesn't piss you the fuck off, I
- 2:42don't know what will get motivated.
- 2:47But anyway, let's get into it. First, the minutiae.
- 2:53Lamb of God's new album is coming out this week.
- 2:55I'm really stoked. Again, we've been thinking about
- 2:58how to build a better community here, not just our regulars and
- 3:01everydayers like Brooklyn, this and a bunch of others, but just
- 3:05how to give value, the most value possible.
- 3:08A lot of people, I feel like there's so much misinformation
- 3:11and disinformation and haters and haterade on Reddit and the
- 3:16Internet and it's like, OK, a lot of people are commenting on
- 3:20a record they haven't heard yet. Charlie does energy is here,
- 3:24George is here, Dirty Dan is here, Beer Man 353 is also here.
- 3:31The life Atlas is here. I'm just appreciative of anybody
- 3:34paying attention this late at night.
- 3:36Thanks for being here. So Lamb of God, new record
- 3:41before that, this week on YouTube and and our podcast.
- 3:45I got to check one, a huge one off the bucket list.
- 3:48I got to interview Sebastian Bach.
- 3:51You know him best, formerly of Skid Row, of course, from his
- 3:56long solo career, Gilmore Girls, Phantom of the Opera.
- 4:00We talked a lot about his most recent album, The Child Within
- 4:04the Man, as well as his upcoming headline tour, which we're
- 4:07hoping to go cover, and it was really awesome.
- 4:10I know a lot of people have been asking very antagonistic
- 4:13questions to Baz and I tried not to.
- 4:17I'm not here just to get clicks. Of course, clicks help us like
- 4:20everybody else we're in, we're in this business to be in
- 4:23business and be followed and, and get attention.
- 4:26But also sometimes it doesn't feel good to get negative
- 4:29attention. I just don't, you know, I don't
- 4:31see the point. But I'd rather go viral for a
- 4:34good thing than a bad thing. But anyway, that's me and
- 4:37probably nobody else in the business.
- 4:38But also tomorrow on YouTube, we'll be premiering our new
- 4:42interview with Todd Severin. You may know him as the founder
- 4:46and leader of Ripple Music, the great Stoner metal, psychedelic
- 4:51rock, Stoner doom label. They recently celebrated 15th
- 4:54anniversary show. I got to interview Todd.
- 4:56I went to the show. I was a tremendous, tremendous
- 5:00chat with Todd. He is one of the just the bright
- 5:03lights of the music community and the metal community.
- 5:08And there's a guy I never thought he would own a label.
- 5:10And it was a guy who never thought I would own a music
- 5:12website or, you know, I thought I would is work for someone else
- 5:15at a magazine. And I just ended up being here
- 5:18and I'm glad I'm here with you. Here's our tip menu.
- 5:22Obviously not our everyday errors, but if you're new here
- 5:25and you want to help keep the lights on, we appreciate tips.
- 5:29If you're feeling tipsy, we do make money from advertising.
- 5:31Not a lot. Some are working on changing
- 5:34that. But, you know, almost 14 years
- 5:36in business and being a DIY music website's a lot like being
- 5:40in a DIY band. So I'm just going to drop the
- 5:46places to tip in the menu in the in the comments section.
- 5:50All right, there's our cash App case.
- 5:52You want to check it out. Lamb of God, so much to unpack.
- 5:56I have to say this is I'm always, you know, because I've
- 5:59worked in the music industry for such a long time and I've
- 6:01advised and coached bands on PR and music marketing and release
- 6:05schedules. This may be of interest to
- 6:07anybody out there with a band. This is a very long lead up to
- 6:11this. Lamb of God has been like eking
- 6:14out singles every few months with a little more regularity
- 6:18the last few. But they didn't really announce
- 6:21this record until January. And but they had put out a
- 6:25couple of singles ready that were like maybe a new record is
- 6:28coming. You know, that's what we
- 6:29suspected. So Ken Countenbach is here.
- 6:32What up, Ken? My second favorite Ken in the
- 6:34world, Mike Matusa is here. Boy online is here.
- 6:40Lao Stoney B Good to see everybody.
- 6:44So Lamb of God. They've been really like teasing
- 6:46this record out for a long time. I thought it was a pretty clever
- 6:48schedule. The majority of the record
- 6:50industry right now is like announce an album, put it out
- 6:53next month, put it out in two months.
- 6:54That's usually two to three months is the standard PR
- 6:57campaign. Two to three months is a lot of
- 6:59time to kind of seed and drop videos and singles and stoke
- 7:03those pre release links and things like that and get people
- 7:06to pre save and pre-order. But you know, Lamb of God knows
- 7:09they have a tremendous audience having been a band for 30 years,
- 7:14over 30 years as a band. Previously burned the Priest
- 7:17before that. We'll talk about that.
- 7:19Good to see you, Ken. Devil horns right back to you,
- 7:21pal. And you know, Lamb of God is one
- 7:24of the leading bands in metal. I haven't met anybody that
- 7:29doesn't like them. Most people enjoy them at least
- 7:32live. You know, Randy's vocals may not
- 7:35be for everybody, but in terms of that, like borderline between
- 7:39brutal death metal and thrash, they're right there, right?
- 7:43Randy is also really been stretching out as a vocalist the
- 7:47last few years and especially the last few albums.
- 7:50So I think we are fairly stoked on it.
- 7:54Here is a just hit send on the comment with our links to
- 7:59support us. But again, I'm just glad to be
- 8:02here. I'm glad you're here.
- 8:03So, Lamb of God, check this amazing photo out from our own
- 8:06Randall Hicks at Riot Fest 24. And kind of looks like Randy's
- 8:17crotch is ripping open or something.
- 8:20But what an incredible band they have put on.
- 8:23Really. You know, they are one of the
- 8:25leading bands of metal. Not quite full on arena
- 8:31headliner, but maybe after this record they just might be.
- 8:35They do have their own crews. We talk about all those things.
- 8:37The band has been around again, 26 years as Lamb of God, 30
- 8:42years total from the time they were burned, the priest.
- 8:46And you know, just what a tremendous, tremendous band.
- 8:50And I feel lucky to be in the time of Lamb of God.
- 8:53Oh no, that's the wrong slide. Oh well, leftover from the
- 8:57Megadeth review. Lamb of God by the numbers, not
- 8:59Megadeth by the numbers. Megadeth review was a couple of
- 9:02weeks ago, a month ago. Then we did Rob Zombie a few
- 9:07weeks ago and now Lamb of God. My bad.
- 9:10So Lamb of God by the numbers. I love doing this little
- 9:12breakdown. Founded in 94 is Burn the Priest
- 9:15changed the name. They were really actually more
- 9:18picked on for Lamb of God than Burn the Priest.
- 9:21They just didn't want to be considered like a satanic band
- 9:25so they didn't want to have people calling them satanic, you
- 9:29know Which I kind of get 11 albums. 9 is Lamb of God, 2 is
- 9:34Burn the Priest, one live album, Kill Adelphia, also a DVD and
- 9:38two EPS. Only 1.2 million in sales so
- 9:42far. And I was really surprised at
- 9:43this because they do have a few gold albums.
- 9:46I believe Wrath is gold and a few others are approaching gold
- 9:51or or maybe the numbers and the goal posts have moved and and
- 9:54that only matters to record label people and publicists.
- 9:57Bands don't really care about this thing, but it really shows
- 9:59you the Lamb of God came along at the dawn of streaming of kind
- 10:04of pirate stuff like Limewire and Bear Share and Pirate Bay.
- 10:09And then just as they were becoming a big, big band like
- 10:13RAF Spotify came along. So like they really had, you
- 10:18know, they have a lot of they have, you know, a lot of plays,
- 10:21but maybe not a lot of sales. It's great to see a lot of Lamb
- 10:24of God merch. And Lamb of God is, you know,
- 10:27really figured out how to, you know, figured out how to be a
- 10:32successful touring band, obviously without selling
- 10:36millions and millions of records, but hey, nothing to
- 10:38sneeze at. 1.2 million records, 5 Grammy nominations but never
- 10:43won. But they did.
- 10:44They are in the Decibel Hall of Fame for Ashes of the Wake,
- 10:49widely considered one of their best records.
- 10:51They have several records that I would consider classes, Ash,
- 10:54classics of metal, Ashes of the Wake as the Palace is burned,
- 10:57wrath, resolution. These are all amazing records
- 11:02and they've been very consistent the whole way.
- 11:04Really never made a bad record in my personal opinion.
- 11:07Definitely one of the leaders of the new wave of American metal
- 11:12or modern metal. Basically the last 25 years.
- 11:17Kind of the heavier metal core, the resurgence of thrash and
- 11:21hardcore thrash bands like hybrid hardcore and thrash bands
- 11:28and technical metal inspired by obviously the BIG4 and Pantera.
- 11:34Also also the personnel of the band has been largely unchanged
- 11:38except, as we know, on the drums.
- 11:40John Campbell is the lone founding member still in the
- 11:43band. Mark Morton found the band,
- 11:47left, came back. He's been there ever since.
- 11:50D Randall Bly D Public Enemy number one.
- 11:54If I was Randall Bly, just go around introducing myself as D
- 11:57Public Enemy #15-O said Freeze. And I got none D Randall Bly,
- 12:03Randy Bly on vocals for the last 31 years.
- 12:08Willie Adler came in in 99 as they changed over the Lamb of
- 12:11God and Art Cruz, who replaced Mark Morton on drums.
- 12:18Mark had a fallout with the band.
- 12:20Sorry, not Chris Adler. Excuse me, had a fallout with
- 12:23the band and Art has been in ever since.
- 12:28Art, we love him. He was originally Winds of
- 12:30Plague and Prong and just a dude we love here at Ghost Cult.
- 12:35He's really cool. I met him.
- 12:37I just bumped into him in Anaheim around the NAMM show
- 12:41when I was down there and what a what a just a treasure.
- 12:46That guy's a treasure and a phenomenal drummer.
- 12:49So let's get into into oblivion and let's talk about the record.
- 12:53Track by track. I have many notes to share and
- 12:57I'm really stoked. Just a couple of notes.
- 13:00This is their 4th record. Produced by Josh Wilbur, mixed
- 13:06by Josh, Engineered by Josh and Kyle McCauley who's Josh's go to
- 13:10engineer T's programming and sound design.
- 13:13On the record by Josh Will Wilbur and Willie Adam, who's
- 13:16taking a more, you know, bigger role in that, you know, aspect
- 13:20of the band. Recorded at Snake Alley Sound in
- 13:23Richmond, drums recorded at the Bakery in Richmond and all the
- 13:29vocals were recorded at Total Access Recording in Redondo
- 13:32Beach, CA. No doubt known for their surfing
- 13:36because Randy is a huge surf nuts and it's a very probably
- 13:40very good for him, a good outlet for him.
- 13:46And the Super interesting kind of futuristic artwork is by Ken
- 13:52Adams and there are versions of this.
- 13:56I'll talk about it later. But there are versions of this
- 13:58thing where the artwork you really like understand the
- 14:00dayglo artwork of everything. I'm I'm pretty stoked about it.
- 14:08So let us get into the track by track.
- 14:14Into Oblivion is the first entitled track.
- 14:16It is an absolute ass beater in the tradition of all great Lamb
- 14:20of God opening songs. Just unbelievable grooves,
- 14:24tremendous guitar riffs. Randy just on fire.
- 14:28No surprise why this is the title track.
- 14:32The second track is Parasocial Christ and I, and I think the
- 14:36singles are pretty heavy front loaded.
- 14:38So we've heard maybe a 1/3 of the album already, closer to 40%
- 14:43of the album with the existing singles.
- 14:46Let's see, there'll probably be a new single this weekend I
- 14:48suspect, or video for a single. But Parasocial Christ is just
- 14:54brutal. Really.
- 14:57Just fast, fast fast Lamb of God, almost kind of slavery.
- 15:03I do want to say these are some of the best lyrics Randy has
- 15:05ever had. And for the press, we were given
- 15:08the lyrics along with the album stream.
- 15:09So I got to listen multiple times to the record the last few
- 15:13weeks as well as read along the lyrics, which are extremely
- 15:17pointed and political. And I know Randy was quoted
- 15:21today by probably Blabbermouth and everybody else saying like,
- 15:25if you want me to stop being political, F you.
- 15:27So like, fuck you. So, you know, there you have it.
- 15:31Randy has been a political activist and has been a
- 15:35political lyricist his entire career.
- 15:37And why would he stop now? Some of their stuff is
- 15:40interpersonal, but most of it is, you know, very activated
- 15:45left wing politics. And there's nothing wrong with
- 15:48that. In my eyes.
- 15:49That might offend some people who just want to lift weights,
- 15:51crush peeps and listen to Lamb of God and not have them be
- 15:55yelled at. But this is where Randy is at.
- 15:59Parasocial Christ. Great track.
- 16:00The next track is sepsis. And this is the first track
- 16:04that's like one of the few curveballs of the record because
- 16:08it's kind of a grindy, slow, snaking rift is a tremendous
- 16:14This is probably the best sounding bass the band has ever
- 16:18had. John Campbell's bass is just
- 16:21absolutely popping through. Kind of reminded me of David
- 16:24Ellefsson in Megadeth because it's not too bright, but it's
- 16:31really aggressive. The the picking is really
- 16:35accentuated and supports the the guitars so well.
- 16:40And then it has a fast, fast ending.
- 16:42So it kind of reminded me of an Anthrax song like 2000s John
- 16:46Bush Anthrax, where they would have kind of like a mid tempo
- 16:49song and then zip it to the end, you know, Fast forward the tape.
- 16:56So yeah, thanks to everybody who is watching on YouTube and the
- 17:02gram and TikTok. Appreciate you.
- 17:05So yeah, Parasocial Christ, definitely one of the apps
- 17:09Parasocial Christ rule sepsis one of the best tracks.
- 17:12Just unbelievable track all the way through.
- 17:15The Killing floor is the first kind of new track we hadn't
- 17:19heard yet. And this one is a bit of a
- 17:21surprise. It's got kind of a tremolo
- 17:25picked rift that's almost black metal or kind of when Pantera
- 17:29was incorporating more black metal in the great southern
- 17:32trend kill to kind of mirror where Phil was going vocally
- 17:36with a lot of like fast, fast tremolo picking and and and just
- 17:40kind of like very angular, almost Dillinger escape plan
- 17:43riff. And then just again, just
- 17:46absolute kicking ass. Probably the longest song on the
- 17:49record. It just 416.
- 17:51The next track's 417. You know, killing for a great
- 17:56song. Wouldn't be surprised if it was
- 17:57a single. The next track on the album is
- 18:01probably another curveball from most El Vasio, which seems to be
- 18:05about Mexican drug cartels in America, but I could be just
- 18:09reading across the surface of that one.
- 18:11But it's here's Randy singing, and we've gotten a lot of
- 18:15melodic singing from Randy for the first time in the last few
- 18:18years. Started with the EP The Duke.
- 18:21He's like, I've never done a melodic vocal before and I just
- 18:24wanted to give it a try. We usually would have a guest
- 18:26who would do those kind of vocals like a Chino Moreno, and
- 18:29I wanted to see if I could just try to add one more tool to my
- 18:32toolbox. And he did, man.
- 18:34So I would say this track kind of reminds me of what is the
- 18:39track on the Lasko Jiro record, The chant that's kind of very
- 18:42starts very chill with beautiful melodic guitars, pick guitars
- 18:48and clean stuff and then kind of gets metal E toward the end.
- 18:52But a beautiful song and and again, very surprising and great
- 18:56performance by Randy on the lead vocals.
- 18:58Another banger follows this one Saint Catherine's wheel.
- 19:03Randy is very rarely this direct.
- 19:06He's usually very not obtuse on purpose or flowery, but he's
- 19:11just usually good with metaphors and things.
- 19:14But also when he wants you to get punched in the face with his
- 19:16words and vocals, he punches you in the face.
- 19:19He does not miss so Saint Catherine's meal.
- 19:22Best performance vocally on the record by Randy, where he kind
- 19:26of call and responses himself in the same verse.
- 19:29I can't describe it any differently.
- 19:31You'll have to hear the track, but it's kind of like a shouty
- 19:36part and a screaming, a high high, like shrieking scream.
- 19:40Kind of like Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder used to do.
- 19:44Phenomenal song and just a really killer song.
- 19:47He's kind of preaching lyrics at you, he really wants you to get
- 19:50it and the and the song's just a beater.
- 19:55The most recent single is the next track and that is Blunt
- 19:58Force Blues. Didn't grab me immediately.
- 20:01Still a great track, just kind of slow to get into for me for
- 20:06whatever reason, but a lot of people seem to dig it.
- 20:09Very similar to Trivium or Machine Head like shredding.
- 20:12Power groove thrash metal from the early 2000s, and again,
- 20:16those bands were kind of all circling each other.
- 20:19Trivium is on the same level as Lamb of God.
- 20:21Just about Machine it is too, although they're kind of 10
- 20:24years earlier. So excellent track, or very,
- 20:30very good, if not great. Bully is the next one and this
- 20:33one definitely the best lyrics and again very pointed political
- 20:38lyrics. You will either love them or you
- 20:40won't. They will either speak to you or
- 20:42they will offend you. Super metallic hardcore, like a
- 20:47constant beat down song if such a thing.
- 20:50Not like a breakdown the whole song but a constant beat.
- 20:53Like an ass beater. You know you could pick the
- 20:57whole time for this song. Not quite a circle pit, but like
- 20:59a real big punchy, punchy, punchy hardcore pit and a lot of
- 21:04chugging riffs that kind of reminded me of New American
- 21:07Gospel or As the Palace is Burned.
- 21:08And I know that Mark Morton gave an interview.
- 21:12I try not to read too many other interviews.
- 21:14I was still hoping to get an interview with the band this go
- 21:17around. I've interviewed them several
- 21:19three times and Mark for his solo record, and Mark had said
- 21:24in an interview, I caught a glimpse of where he said that he
- 21:28was revisiting stuff that got him originally into the Lamb of
- 21:32God, kind of, you know, where he was going as a songwriter on New
- 21:36American Gospel and As the Palaces Burn and, you know,
- 21:42Ashes of the Wake. So you hear a lot of things in
- 21:45this record, not quite like a purposeful call back, but you
- 21:48hear stuff that's like, oh, that's kind of like a signature
- 21:50Lamb of God riff, isn't it? And it's fucking cool.
- 21:53I think it's cool. The next track is 1000 Years and
- 21:59again, more singing by Randy, another slinky, kind of
- 22:04arpeggiated slow riff that later picks up really angry, furious
- 22:10song. And again, I just really so
- 22:13pleased this punch that Randy is just bringing it at every level
- 22:18of his artistry, you know, so good.
- 22:22And then finally the album closes with Devise Destroy,
- 22:28which again is just, It goes so hard.
- 22:33I was not ready. It will take your breath away.
- 22:36It's so groovy and, and hard and fresh.
- 22:40You know everything they do. It doesn't sound like anyone
- 22:43else doing what they do, but it it kind of is intrinsically them
- 22:47all the time. They sound like you know who
- 22:50they are. They're not trying to fool
- 22:53anybody. They're not trying to fool
- 22:54themselves. They know what band they showed
- 22:56up to be in. A lot of bands will kind of lose
- 23:01the story and, you know, forget who they are when they go to
- 23:05make a new record. I'm going to quickly read.
- 23:08You can go to ghostcultman.com right now.
- 23:10It's also a link in the description and also link it
- 23:12here. You can go read our new review
- 23:16by our writer in the UK, Gary Alcock Guys Gem.
- 23:21There was a couple of really good ones here.
- 23:23I know there was some brouhaha about the logo and you know,
- 23:27maybe they would like the band was changing, but like, there's
- 23:32a couple of great quotes here. For all the exploration and
- 23:37progression, this band again never loses sight of what they
- 23:39are. If you want your face removed by
- 23:41molten riffs and scouring paired vocals, you are still very much
- 23:45in the right place. And then at the end of the close
- 23:48of the review, he writes aggressive and antagonistic.
- 23:51If you thought the band had possibly stalled over the last
- 23:54couple of albums and Into Oblivion sets things straight in
- 23:57no uncertain terms. So I mean, that is a ringing
- 24:02endorsement of the new Lamb of God record.
- 24:05We went, Gary gave it a nine. I have to agree.
- 24:07To me, it's a nine out of 10. Maybe it's not groundbreaking,
- 24:11but it's certainly a immense record, certainly one of the
- 24:15most complete records to come out this year so far.
- 24:19There's the trash getting picked up in the alley behind my house.
- 24:22That's my signal to go. Just a couple of quick little
- 24:25extra bits. Lamb of God's playing a surprise
- 24:27show in Philadelphia this weekend.
- 24:29They are quickly selling out of all the pre-orders.
- 24:32You can check that out the link in our description.
- 24:34And that is our review of Lamb of God Into Oblivion.
- 24:37Drop us a comment if you're watching this on the rebroadcast
- 24:40or on the channel or any of our channels or on the podcast and
- 24:43tell us what you want me to review next.
- 24:45We get albums in advance. Not everybody does.
- 24:48We have been in the music business.
- 24:49I've been in the music business almost 20 years and Ghost Cult
- 24:51has been around 14. So I'll be back at least one
- 24:55more time this week on Thursday for our weekly show.
- 24:58But thanks for watching. Thanks for being here.
- 25:01If you're new here, like and subscribe.
- 25:03I'm Kefi from Ghost Cult. There's no fancy ending today.
- 25:06I'm just out. Peace.
- 25:08Good night.