LAMB OF GOD's RANDY BLYTHE On Coping With Quarantine Life: 'This Is Not The Zombie Apocalypse'

LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe recently spoke to Bloody Disgusting about how he is coping with quarantine life during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. He said: "In general, for me, it's a matter of realizing that this is not the zombie apocalypse; however cool that would be for a film, it's just not.

"For someone who is not struggling with clinical depression or anxiety, it is not that big of a deal to sit on your couch for two weeks, a month, or whatever," he continued. "I think about my grandma who grew up in the [Great] Depression and went to World War II. I talk to her on the phone some and she has told me many tales. [During the Great Depression], people didn't have enough food, and not because the grocery stores were running out and people were hoarding, people didn't have enough food because there just wasn't enough food — period. During World War II, there was rationing for everything. But during those times, people came together for the greater good, and I think that's what we have to do more than anything else. We need to embrace this idea of postponing regular life for a bit and think about the greater good.

"I think the seriousness of this is going to be made apparent very soon and people will start taking it very seriously, because they'll have no choice to," he added. "Staying out of the catastrophizing monkey mind is a good way to deal with this. Of course, wash your hands, practice social distancing and think about the difference between what you want and what you need realistically. I want to go surfing, worse than anything, but all the beaches are closed. I don't need to go down, sneak around the beach and possibly be exposed to this thing, or if I'm carrying it, give it to someone else … It's time to be really proactive and take this thing seriously."

LAMB OF GOD will release its new, self-titled album on May 8 via Epic Records in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. The follow-up to 2015's "VII: Sturm Und Drang" marks LAMB OF GOD's first recordings with Art Cruz, who joined the band last year as the replacement for the group's founding drummer, Chris Adler.

Cruz filled in for Adler on several LAMB OF GOD tours in the past couple of years before being named Chris's official replacement last July.

When Adler's absence from LAMB OF GOD's summer 2018 tour was first announced, he released a statement saying that he had been undergoing physical and occupational therapy for injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident in late 2017.

Cruz made his live debut with LAMB OF GOD in July 2018 in Gilford, New Hampshire.