Saudade tap Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe for new Joy Division cover (watch the video)

Saudade, the band led by Chuck Doom and Gil Sharone that features collaborations with famous guest vocalists and musicians, have covered Joy Division's classic "Day of the Lords" with Lamb of God's Randy Blythe on lead vocals. It's a well-executed cover that stays pretty faithful to the original, with Randy's vocals adding an extra layer of creepiness.

The cover -- which also features guitarist Todd Wilkinson (Team Sleep), guitarist Matt Campbell (Vowws), and backing vocals by Dominique Lenore Persi (Stolen Babies) -- comes with a video and artwork made by RIZZ from Vowws, and here's what Randy, Chuck, and Gil said about it:

Randy Blythe:

I’ve always wanted to cover ‘Day of the Lords’— in my opinion, it is the heaviest of Joy Division songs. With Saudade, we have such a widely-varied pool of musical backgrounds to draw from that I knew we could add some interesting sonic layers to the tune while honoring the original. The lyrics to ‘Day of the Lords’ are undeniably bleak— as well, the song was recorded during a pandemic, so I wanted the video to reflect the poetic isolation conveyed in the lyrics and the literal isolation felt by many across the globe at this time. Rizz did a great job of getting that stark loneliness across visually.

Chuck Doom:

This track came together in such a fun and organic way right from the first session. Gil and I tracked the basics with Drums, Steel Drums, Fender Rhodes, Synths and Bass. Our buddies Todd and Matt added guitars. When Randy came out Los Angeles we all spent a couple days working on the song together. It was really fun to make music with friends in the same room again. We want to thank Rizz for creating a beautiful visual interpretation of the song for us to share. Much Love and Respect to Ian Curtis and Joy Division.

Gil Sharone:

Covering “Day of The Lords” was a blast. When Randy mentioned it to Chuck I thought it was a killer idea and we jumped in the studio within days of that call. We started building the track with just drums and an outline of chords which isn’t the usual process. It was awesome to see the track reveal itself as we kept adding more layers. I feel like we accomplished our goal of paying tribute to Joy Division but also making the song our own. The track feels like a journey. Every section has its own dynamic and keeps growing until the final climax. Randy’s vocal performance really captured what we were doing musically and I’m very proud of the track.

RIZZ adds, "My process for making videos is always the same; tune everything out, smoke a lot of weed and respond the music. I had some notes from Randy about abandoned spaces which was great cos It’s always good to have a starting point & the rest sort of filled itself in."

Check out the cover and video below...