Watch LAMB OF GOD Perform With Guest Singers From CHIMAIRA, IN FLAMES And TRIVIUM

LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe was compelled to overlook the band’s live performance Tuesday evening (April 19) in Grand Rapids, Michigan after testing constructive for COVID-19, the illness attributable to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Filling in for him on the gig had been singers of two of the teams who’re presently on tour with LAMB OF GOD, TRIVIUM‘s Matt Heafy and IN FLAMES‘ Anders Fridén, in addition to Mark Hunter of CHIMAIRA, which supported LAMB OF GOD on a U.S. tour again in 2003. Fan-filmed video of the live performance is offered beneath.

After the gig, Hunter shared a number of images from backstage and soundcheck, and he included the next message: “I had the dignity of singing for LAMB OF GOD tonight. @drandallblythe was unavailable on account of having COVID. It was an absolute honor and I am extraordinarily grateful they considered me. Get higher quickly, Randy!!”

A number of hours earlier than final evening’s present, Blythe launched the next assertion by way of social media: “After two years, the ‘rona lastly received me. Regrettably, the signs of COVID look just about precisely like common tour life for me- achey/sore throat/headache (I am 51 years outdated, I scream & soar round like a maniac to very loud music for over an hour every evening, so after all I ache & have a sore throat & a headache- that is simply known as ‘tour’), so I believed what I used to be feeling was simply regular. Nonetheless, after my throat received worse, simply to be protected I took a take a look at, & it popped up constructive. I IMMEDIATELY remoted myself from my band & all different people, contacted anybody I had been close to to allow them to know, & will proceed to isolate till I’m not contagious.”

He continued: “That is the proper, moral factor to do- what looks like a very dangerous chilly to me might imply one thing very, very completely different to an immuno-compromised one who is unable to be vaccinated like I’m, or an aged particular person. I’m already feeling higher, however with the intention to defend my band, our followers, and the well being of the tour, I’ve to overlook tonight’s present. This sucks, but it surely’s the price of doing enterprise nowadays. Our outdated pal Mark Hunter of CHIMAIRA fame will return to the stage & fill in for me tonight- thanks, Mark, you are a stable dude & I do know you’ll kill it! I solely want I may very well be there to see it! I hope to be again onstage later this week.

“Thanks in your understanding in advance- that is nothing I wished to occur, however I’m doing my finest to do the appropriate factor right here.”

LAMB OF GOD is presently on the street in North America with MEGADETH, TRIVIUM and IN FLAMES as half of what’s being known as “The Steel Tour Of The 12 months”.

Final October, Blythe urged everybody coming to see his band carry out to get vaccinated towards COVID-19. “I consider in fucking science,” he stated throughout an look on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn‘s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast. “And I’ve pals who’re docs and scientists and nurses, and these are folks I’ll take heed to — not somebody on social media, not one other musician, not a speaking head on CNN, Fox Information, USA At this time, PBS; none of these things. I discuss to my pals who’re molecular biologists, immunologists, emergency room docs, and I’ve pals who’re nurses, one among whom works in a COVID ward — and somebody very near me. These are usually not my pals’ neighbors’ second cousin’s buddy [saying], ‘I heard this or that or the opposite’; these are people who find themselves pals of mine I discuss to straight. They’re, like, ‘That is actual. That is the science. That is the info. That is what I see. These are the folks I see dying.’ So I’ll take heed to my pals ‘trigger they’re lots smarter than me.

“For me, everyone has to quote-unquote do their very own analysis, I suppose,” he laughed. “My analysis entails speaking to pals of mine who spent years of their lives pursuing levels that value them hundreds and hundreds of {dollars}, or who dedicate their lives to the service of others within the medical career. And that is what these persons are telling me. So I haven’t got to filter by means of all this information, by means of all these completely different media sources; I simply discuss to my pals. ‘Are you vaccinated?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘Inform me about this vaccine. Inform me concerning the know-how.’ And I’ve had these conversations.

“When the vaccine got here out very quickly, comparatively, like anybody else, I used to be, like, ‘Properly, that is fast,'” Randy admitted. “However then some pals of mine defined to me, ‘That is outdated know-how. They have been engaged on this for 15 fucking years. It isn’t new. So reduce it out with that.’ And in addition, this isn’t simply an American or one nation’s or one company’s push; this can be a large worldwide effort to get this vaccine prepared — completely different ones prepared — for distribution.

“I’ve a pal who works in intelligence — fairly high-level intelligence — and one among their jobs proper now could be serving to out with COVAX, which is the worldwide vaccine distribution arm. And he [was] speaking to one among his co-workers from COVAX, and it was simply, like, it’s totally irritating with sure locations the place the vaccine is offered and folks do not wanna take it, and there are nations which can be begging for it.

“All that apart, for me, like I stated, it is a matter of speaking to my pals and being, like, ‘What is the take care of this?'” Blythe added. “As a result of these are folks I belief, and so they’re lots smarter than me… So I’ll take heed to them — I am simply gonna.”

LAMB OF GOD‘s newest, self-titled album was launched in June 2020 by way of Epic Data within the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Data in Europe. The follow-up to “VII: Sturm Und Drang” marked LAMB OF GOD‘s first recordings with Artwork Cruz, who joined the band in July 2019 because the substitute for the group’s founding drummer, Chris Adler.

“Lamb Of God” was recorded with longtime producer Josh Wilbur (KORN, MEGADETH, GOJIRA, TRIVIUM) and contains particular visitor appearances by Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT).