Imagine…the unimaginable. What is one of the worst
possible scenarios that you can come up with and now kick it up a notch and
realize it’s all real. I am talking the stuff that movies are made of, you
know; truth is stranger than fiction stuff.
You are a modestly successful rock star; we’re talking
comfortable, not crazy blinged out, garage full of exotic cars kinda rock star,
but a pretty cool life doing what you love. Your tour takes you to the old city
of Prague in the Czech Republic, but instead of being met at the airport by
adoring fans you encounter a phalanx of armed to the teeth policemen who take
you into custody the minute you step out of the jet way and inform you that
you’re being held for manslaughter. Apparently on your last concert visit to
Prague out of self-preservation you decked a young fan,
who unknown to you, later died from head injuries.
This is the nightmare that is all too real to D.
Randall Blythe, lead singer for the metal outfit lamb of god. Dark Days – A Memoir is Blythe’s
recounting of the harrowing tale. The book takes on a very authentic feel early
on, with reproductions of notes scrawled in a very rough hand; not sure if they
are contemporaneous notes taken at the time or from Blythe’s recollections, but
they offer a depth of clarity that is amazing in its level-headedness, yet
painful in their desperation.
His description of the dank, crumbling, 123 year old
prison and the dark cell he called home for over a month from shortly after his
arrest to his making bail reads like something straight out of a James Bond
movie and a villain’s lair.
Dark
Days illustrates Blythe’s iron grip on his reality; this guy
knows pretty clearly who he is and his place in the world, truly a rarity for a
rock star. He lays things open about his “drinking and drugging” issues and his
sobriety. Oddly enough, his sobriety came about prior to the legal issues he
faced; it was undoubtedly challenged by the case.
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