LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe has once again denied that "Checkmate", the first single from the band's forthcoming eighth full-length album, was written about President Donald Trump.
Even though he has previously referred to Trump as "the orange idiot" in interviews, on social media and onstage, he tells Billboard that "Checkmate"'s lyrics — which include the line, "Divide and conquer and close them in/And bury secrets deep/Make America hate again and bleed the sheep to sleep" — are not about America's 45th president.
"To write a record bashing Donald Trump would be rather futile, because the situation with our president is so protean and ever-shifting, and reality has become so subjective and surreal," Blythe said. "'Checkmate' is not about the Republicans. It's about how both political parties right now are two sides of the same coin, which is very destructive and disruptive to democracy."
In a 2017 interview, Blythe spoke about the fact that Trump portrayed the nation during the election as a corrupt, collapsing dystopia that needed to be saved. "President Trump sold this fantasy that we're going to return to the 1950s and be in some sort of idyllic Beaver Cleaver world that was only good for middle-class white Americans in the first place," the singer told Yahoo! "And that idea is gone. It's dead and it's not a valid option in this modern world. We're not going to batten down the hatches and shut the rest of the world out. Life doesn't exist that way anymore. Basically, the world is a mess and all you can do while this shitstorm is going on is try and be a moral person, at least, and not pay attention to too much of that noise. I do my best to do the right thing in my personal life because I sure as fuck can't change what’s going on in the Oval Office."
Blythe went on to say that current political situation in the country "would be hilarious to me if it wasn't also horrifying at the same time. You know, we have this infuriated orange bowl of sherbet in the Oval Office," he said. "If you're going to be a politician, at least be slick about it. But I don't know. Maybe he's brilliant. The way he got elected with this blitzkrieg of napalm across the misanthropic synapsis of middle America is kind of genius. We're going to make America great again? Whatever. It means nothing. I never thought America was bad in the first place. But he instilled a massive amount of fear and then said, 'I am the Messiah.' So, you know, when America doesn't become great again, what's gonna happen?"
"Lamb Of God" will be released on May 8 via Epic Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. The follow-up to "VII: Sturm Und Drang" will mark LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Art Cruz, who joined the band last July as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler.
"Lamb Of God" was recorded with longtime producer Josh Wilbur (KORN, MEGADETH, GOJIRA, TRIVIUM). Special guests on the disc include Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT).
