Almost exactly two years ago (1/23), Lamb of God released their seventh album, Resolution. This past Saturday, they ended the active touring cycle for the album in Johannesburg, South Africa. And with the exception of two festival shows, the band will be taking the majority of the year off. Following the show, Blythe posed with a warthog skull and stated the following via his Instagram account.

And so another album cycle comes to an end. This has been a very eventful, at times VERY STRESSFUL, album cycle, & it’s been about three years since we started on this one in our practice space- I need a break. Tomorrow is a 19 hour flight back to the USA, & then another one home to RVA, & except for two festival shows in 2014, I will not be thinking about lamb of god, touring, playing heavy metal, writing new lamb of god material- NONE OF THAT STUFF- AT ALL- for a good long while. Time to do other things for a bit, & let my brain regroup, & be a somewhat normal human being. This has been a pretty wild ride though, & to end it in AFRICA of all places still amazes the crap outta me. So thanks Johannesburg for an awesome end to the Resolution tour cycle, & to all you other bands, hear this: the game has been stepped up, & the ante has risen. You are not a REAL G until you come to South Africa & your fans throw one of THESE to you on stage- a warthog skull. Takes the cake for the strangest thing throw at me on stage ever, & I’ve had some weird shit thrown at me- I named him Jeff. Jeff, the South African warthog. Top that, y’all. Don’t front like your ballin’ if you ain’t rockin’ that wart hog shizzy. I figured I’d finish up the cycle with a nice self-portrait. Me & Jeff are outty. Peace, & one love.

Stressful is actually understating things. Many bands have two year touring cycles behind their albums. Not many of them are interrupted by being arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. And the fact that the band persevered throughout, triumphed and then did a successful tour last year suggests that Blythe and the rest of the band have earned their break. And it’s not like Lamb of God will be disappearing. Their documentary, As the Palaces Burn, will be released next month, and Blythe has his own book coming out later this year, apparently. Whatever it takes for the band to continue, I’m sure metal fans will agree that the band should take a well-deserved breather for a bit. But the visual of Blythe getting on an airplane with a warthog skull is pretty entertaining.