KATHMANDU Chris Adler, former drummer of heavy metal band Lamb of God, has teamed up with Girish Pradhan of the popular band from Sikkim, India Girish and The Chronicles, to form a new project called 'Firstborne'. They have launched their first EP. Firstborne, comprising Adler on drums, Pradhan on vocals, Myrone on guitar, and James LoMenzo on bass, released their first eponymous EP on June 19. The EP comprises five tracks with classic heavy metal and hard rock sounds — Primordial, Anthem, Roll the Dice, Apocalypse and Hunter Hunted. “I’m very proud to share my new band @firstborneofficial with you. This collaboration continues to be incredible. It’s been hard to keep this quiet but today is the day,” Adler had shared the news on June 19. Adler got together with Pradhan last year when Adler toured India for a series of live shows and clinics — he was also in Nepal for a clinic in November. According to EastMojo, finding Pradhan was like ‘striking gold’ for Adler. Adler, in an interview with AndrewHaugRadio on his future post Lamb Of God, said that when he ran into Pradhan during the tour, he found him incredibly talented. “This guy just blew me away,” he said. On his social media Pradhan revealed he still “remembers getting super mind-blown when Chris Adler first texted me, last year, about trying out a track he had been working on”. “Today, I’m proud and beyond words, that this has become a reality,” the vocalist of the hard rock/heavy metal band from Gangtok, India said in his June 19 post. “With the incredible Myrone on guitars and the legendary James LoMenzo (Former Whitelion and Megadeth and more...), on bass, I feel so damn lucky!” For Pradhan, it was “a huge privilege and honour” teaming up with Adler, who found the Lamb of God in 1994 helping to usher a new wave of American heavy metal. “Since school, we see dreams in Gangtok of being part of rock bands, heavy metal bands with their own hopes and aspirations. This is one step further showing that musicians in Sikkim do have potential and I feel honoured and responsible,” he shares in an interview with EastMojo. “I sent back demos to them and they were okay with it and wanted to take it forward. I used to record and keep sending it. Over the month we started making lots of tracks and it became a reality. They make tracks in LA through zoom calls, where we discuss and make music, recording live, and writing lyrics together,” the interview quotes Pradhan as saying on making their new music. Adler and Lamb of God parted ways in the summer of 2019 after 26 years. Lamb of God announced their split with Adler in July, and would be replaced by touring drummer Art Cruz — Adler addressed his departure from the metal band in October 2019. He was also associated with Megadeth in 2015-16. Adler was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in 2017. He returned to the stage in October 2019 drumming for the band Hail! — a supergroup featuring current and former members of Megadeth, Machine Head, Exodus and Violence. Firstborne is one of Adler’s projects post his departure from Lamb of God. And Firstborne “is a community. No one is to be excluded. It’s a soundtrack for all, meant to be a positive beacon in this dark time,” explains its official website. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 27, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.