Lamb Of God singer Randy Blythe, who stood trial in the Czech Republic on a manslaughter charge, has today been found not guilty. This is such good news.
He faced up to 10 years in prison, having already spent a short time in Czech jail, following the death of a fan at a LoG show 3 years back. The accusation was that Blythe had pushed the fan off the stage, following a stage invasion by the crowd, but he was judged to have not acted out of aggression and has been cleared of all charges, and will pay no compensation to the family.
Ahead of his final day in court today, before the verdict was delivered, he released the following statement;
"It’s a beautiful morning in Prague, & time for me to go to what is (hopefully) my final day in court here- supposedly judgement will be passed today & I will move on with my life in one direction or the other. Which direction that is, I do not know. I could walk free, or conversely go to prison for up to ten years. Such is my life right now, & I must stay in this moment until its resolution. Whatever happens to me, do not feel sorry for me, for I am at peace & refuse to feel sorry for myself. Life happens. Deal with it. Some people cannot understand why I have returned, saying I should not come back here. KNOW THIS, & mark my words well- it would be absolutely intolerable for me to hide from this situation. I am an innocent man, but a family suffers the loss of a son, a fan of my band. That is what this whole thing is truly about, not prison, not money, not politics, not ME- it is about a young man who lost his life at just 19 years of age. He will never come back, & it breaks my heart. I would not be able to sleep at night knowing that I did not behave honorably & try to give his family some answers. That would be disgraceful, and I do not wish to dishonor myself or my family by acting in such a cowardly manner. I was raised to face my problems head on. For me, this is BEING A MAN. I categorically refuse to live in a constant state of guilt & fear. I would rather die. My morality & convictions are not dependent upon unforeseeable circumstance, nor malleable when difficulty arises. So I walk this morning to court with my head held high, no matter what others opinions of me may be. I have to face myself in the mirror, & tomorrow morning, where ever I may wake up, I will be able to do that without regret. This is THE ONLY path to true freedom for me- peace within myself. This is the manner in which I choose to try my best to live my life, & I hope you all do the same- do your best to do what is right, no matter how difficult it may be. I promise you, this will bring you peace. I thank you all for your support, I wish you all a good day, & to quote one of my favorite movies: STRENGTH AND HONOR"
It's fantastic news that he has walked free, and his composure throughout the trial has been nothing short of exemplary, honourable and dignified.
Following the acquittal, he released a second short statement with this accompanying photo;
“I have been found not guilty & acquitted of all charges against me. I am a free man. This photo was taken by my friend @aceyslade- it says it all. Please remember the family of Daniel Nosek in your thoughts & prayers in this difficult time. I only wish for them peace. Thank you for your support- Randy”
From all of us here at theNOISE (Ah, such laughs. It's just me), I would like to wish Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe the best - he stands in Czech court facing a charge of manslaughter, and I can only hope that he is found innocent. We, being the rock and metal community, are behind you all the way.
For better live updates, try following Metal Hammer's coverage of the case here.
Every year has its shit. This is not to revel in it all, and think that the past year has been so - far from it. But it is worth paying attention to.
Near tragedy struck Atlanta's Baroness, who were involved in a bus crash while on tour in the UK. However, as recently as this week Baroness' John Baizley released a statement of his and the band's intent to get back on the horse, after months of recovery and continuing physical therapy - I wish them the best in their ongoing improvement, and hope they're back soon.
The UK's, nay Europe's, festival scene took a blow in 2012 with the surprise and widespread cancellation of Sonisphere Festival, due to 'a weak economy and some bad luck'. A promising lineup with a classic rock flavour then never saw the light of day, with Kiss, Faith No More and a Queen reunion, with Adam Lambert on vocal duties, sadly biting the dust (sorry, had to). Fingers crossed that it gets back up on its feet soon, as it is often blessed with a killer bill (though were it actually running in '13 it would have much to do to surpass Download). I would also love to go back to the place that took my festival virginity (lol) in 2011.
The rock world was shocked this last week when it surfaced that lead singer of Lostprophets, Ian Watkins, had been arrested on allegations of child sex offences. Opinions on the band aside, we can only hope these are untrue claims - he will face the court on Wednesday 26th December.
We have also lost a few bands this past year, among them Japanese Voyeurs and Francesqa (others did but I've forgotten them - comment below if there are any more worth mentioning), while legends Alexisonfire also began their final tour, which will end in Hamilton, Ontario on December 30th. Farewell y'all, good luck, you'll be missed.
Lamb Of God's Randy Blythe has been officially indicted on a charge of manslaughter by the Czech State Attorney's Office in Prague. This follows the death of a fan at a LoG show a couple of years back, in which said fan was reportedly knocked off the stage by Blythe having stormed the stage. It's such an unfortunate thing to have occurred, and I hope the case is resolved cleanly.
And finally, ending on a sombre note (for which I apologise), the biggest tragedy to hit the world of metal this past year, if you hadn't heard about it, was the tragic untimely passing of Suicide Silence vocalist and frontman Mitch Lucker. I've only ever listened to a small handful of their songs, so I can't count myself as a real fan, but I do believe that metal fans in general are a community and a family that I do count myself as part of. So I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, daughter and the rest of his family of bandmates, friends and fans - I know their music meant so much to so many and helped them through difficult times in their lives.
And so I dedicate a specific award to Mitch Lucker, the Fallen Hero of 2012, for fronting a band whose work helped countless people through difficult parts of their lives. May you rest in peace and may your inspiration forever live on.
