Austrian Death Machine

Tim Lambesis, vocalist for As I Lay Dying, conceived Austrian Death Machine as a Schwarzenegger-fixated side project explicitly framed as an "outlet of pure testosterone and stupidity." Viewing the actor he affectionately dubs "Ahhnold" as "the embodiment of everything brutal and stereotypically metal," Lambesis crafted songs whose lyrics drew directly from lines spoken in Schwarzenegger films. The tracks "Come with Me If You Want to Live," "I Am a Cybernetic Organism, Living Tissue Over (Metal) Endoskeleton," and "It's Not a Tumor" were tracked at Lambesis' home studio and initially incorporated samples of Schwarzenegger's own voice. Concerned about potential legal repercussions, the band recruited Chad Ackerman of Chapter 14 to replace those samples with his own comedic Arnold impression. Once As I Lay Dying guitarist Nick Hipa and Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz contributed additional guitar solos, Metal Blade Records took notice and offered the group a deal. In 2008 the label issued the band's debut album, the deliberately over-the-top and heavy Total Brutal.