Last year when all the shit was going down regarding As I Lay Dying and the sudden exodus of everyone not named Tim Lambesis, I made the executive decision as lead editor to lift a ban my predecessors had placed on covering that shitstain because the story was too big. I still stand by that decision but the footage that leaked today that shows him striking his dog is the last straw.
For those that haven’t seen what I’m talking about, new home security footage has popped up online that shows two instances of Lambesis being a dick to his pet. The first clip shows his roided out ass pissed off about something as he walks through his home. His dog makes the apparently unforgivable transgression of getting in his way — as dogs are sometimes wont to do — and with his shitty temper, it looks like he goes out of his way to kick the dog. The second half of the clip shows him actively striking his dog to get him off the couch and then flexing at it in an aggressive manner with balled fists before letting it outside.
If that was the only thing we’d ever seen of Lambesis being a piece of shit, it would be bad. Striking an animal outside of self-defense is inexcusable and this just further proves that Lambesis is simply a bad dude. Remember, he’s gotten multiple attempts at rehabbing his image after trying to hire an assassin to kill his wife back in 2013. He was eventually convicted a year later and sentenced to six years in prison, but got out after only two years. Yes, he served time and he should be able to return to society. If the story ended there with him coming back with As I Lay Dying and he proved to be a changed man, that would be the end of it.
Instead, we got not one, but two major lineup implosions within As I Lay Dying over the last couple years, with the most recent one involving guitarists Phil Sgrosso and Ken Susi, bassist Ryan Neff, and drummer Nick Pierce being the most telling because they all basically said the same thing — Lambesis is the problem. That whole thing was followed up with leaked footage making the rounds of him being shitty with his wife in their home and now we’ve got the aforementioned situation with his dog.
How many chances are we as a community going to give this guy? When he’s proven himself to be a danger to others, when he’s proven he can’t work well with others at all, and now he’s shown he’s craven enough to strike his own dog, what more do we need to learn about the guy? Lambesis can say all he wants on a podcast about his anxiety and his troubled marriage and how that’s affected his life within As I Lay Dying, but at some point the guy has to sit down and realize he’s not making his situations any better. The dude needs to get help and to actively seek to become a better person. Yet it’s apparent he’s either not putting in the work or he doesn’t care to. Until we see him actively doing that, we as a metal community need to walk away from whatever he does.
We as metal fans need to hold the artists we follow to a higher standard. My predecessors banned him from coverage here on MetalSucks and I went against that for the big story. I still reserve my right to do that in case something big happens again, but I’m starting to think enough’s enough…
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