Designed as an "outlet of pure testosterone and stupidity," Austrian Death Machine is an Arnold Schwarzenegger-obsessed side project from As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis. Seeing the man he likes to call "Ahhnold" as "the embodiment of everything brutal and stereotypically metal," Lambesis wrote a set of songs based on lines from Schwarzenegger's films. Tracks like "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 recorded at Lambesis' home studio and originally featured samples of Schwarzenegger himself. After thinking twice about the legal action this might bring, Chad Ackerman from the band Chapter 14 was brought in to re-record the vocals with his humorous Arnold impression. After guests like As I Lay Dying's Nick Hipa and Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz were brought in to add guitar solos, Metal Blade became interested and signed the band. The label released Austrian Death Machine's hilarious and heavy debut, Total Brutal, in 2008. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
