What were you doing the day before 9/11? That’s how Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe felt when Czech prosecutors pulled him off a plane in 2012 and accused him of killing a stage-diver at a gig two years earlier. He’s already told his side of the story in a Prague court. Yet his illuminating, measured biography, from his arrest and 31 grueling days among the walking damned of the notorious Pankrac prison to a judge’s release and final gavel, unwraps hard-won philosophy. There’s no ghostwriter – why would a lyricist want one? Instead, Blythe’s low, sardonic Virginia rumble flows through every word. No self-pity, no mea culpa, no anger, just gratitude for his own survival, and a deep contextualization of how he found himself in a Kafka-esque hell.

Dark Days: A Memoir

by D. Randall Blythe
Da Capo Press, 496 pp., $26.99

This article appears in December 11 • 2015.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.