As I Lay Dying Have Awakened A Beast On Their New Album

The world of metalcore has grown into a huge ocean of music with each new year. It seems as if more and more musical fish join the already crowded waters and swim around aimlessly. In order to survive, those fish need to stand out somehow or they fall prey to the Great White music industry and are swallowed up and never heard from again. For a band like As I Lay Dying, they have learned better than many others how to stand out and survive.

The band has come a long way since their debut album Beneath the Encasing of Ashes back in 2001. Their 2010 release The Powerless Rise was highly praised by critics and fans alike. As a thank you to their fans and to mark their ten year, the guys released Decas in 2011 which features new songs, covers and remixes. The new songs only wetted the appetites of the fans and created more anticipation for their new album. Well, the wait is finally over as the band is prepared to unleash Awakened onto the world. Yes, it was well worth the wait.

The album, which was produced by Bill Stevenson (NOFX/Rise Against), opens with the first single “Cauterize”. I love how the song starts with what appears to be a “deep breath”. Yeah, you better take a deep breath and hold on because this is about to get very interesting. What an excellent way to start off the album. This song combines all the intensity that you would expect from the band. Lead vocalist Tim Lambesis delivers as he always does. There’s also a great mix of clean vocals too by Josh Gilbert. Throw in a breakdown and a killer solo and this song is near perfect!

Second song up is “A Greater Foundation” and features more of the same. The guitar work between Phil Sgrosso and Nick Hipa is strong and they manage to keep those riffs, which are plentiful, sounded fresh and not just rehash. “Resilience” is a stand-out track as it’s one of many that show how the band has grown on the lyrical front. I love the intro on this song as the guitar work is strong and melodic before crashing into intensity.

“Wasted Words” brings to mind Slayer when I first heard the riff in it. This is a kick-ass song and the clean vocals even manage to feel right at home in the chorus.  The clean vocals on the chorus are one thing that the band manages to do right where as other bands in the genre come up short. “Overcome” is a personal favorite on here as the guitar intro is really different. Add some great drum elements and great backing vocals and this song is a strong example of how this band is standing out. The album closes strong with “Tear Out My Eyes” as it seems that all the elements that make this band such a standout come together for one massive number.

I think that this album will make a lot of fans extremely happy. Tim Lambesis really doesn’t pull it surprises on this album, but he does what he does best. He delivers a strong performance as he always does. He really doesn’t stray from what’s made him a great vocalist in this field. Drummer Jordan Mancino delivers as well and displays more depth than just crashing the skins repeatively.

 Bassist Josh Gilbert's bass playing seems to get lost in the production. You can definitely hear him at the beginning of “Defender”, but it’s hard to hear him throughout the entire album. Maybe it’s just my advance copy and it’s compressed too much but I would like to hear other people feedback on that aspect. As far as the guitar work of Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso, it’s stellar. As I said earlier, these guys deliver in abundance and it doesn’t get old or redundant.

The guys have really stepped it up on this new album and have grown. The songwriting is definitely a progression as the songs seem to be, I hope you‘re setting down, catchy. They have somehow managed to write songs that are intense, brutal and at the same time, catchy. I definitely can see this album being on many “Best of 2012” lists at the end of the year. My hat’s off to the guys and my horns are raised high and I say job well done.

Mayhem Festival Delivers A Day Of Metal To Bristow, Virginia

The annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival has become the summer camp of metal in its short existence. 2012 marks the event’s five year anniversary and this year’s lineup promises a little bit for everyone. The nearly half-day long event brought a mix of veteran acts as well as quite a few rookies to the Mayhem stage. The blistering sun was beating down upon the sea of black t-shirts all around us. The added humidity was helping to create a sea of b.o. all around us and the day was still young.

The gates opened and the crowd was herded in like cattle. Every band had a merch booth set up as well as Revolver and a few others. There were plenty of options for anyone around to spend their hard earned money on. There were a few freebies for the fans such as a CD sampler from Sumerian Records. Rockstar Energy Drink also had a tent set-up giving away small cans of their drink. The temps were high that day and that tent stayed packed all day long. There’s no telling how many cans were consumed on that day.

A forgettable local band kicked off the day and the second band to hit the stage was I The Breather. Shawn Span and his boys got the crowd all fired up and a dust cloud soon erupted from the moshing in the pit. The band played several songs off of their newest album Truth and Purpose and converted quite a few people into fans with their powerful set.

The smaller Sumerian Records stage featured very intimate, in your face performances from Dirtfedd, Upon a Burning Body and Betraying the Martyrs. These three bands, with emphasis on the last two, definitely put their all into their short, yet power packed sets. Each performance saw the eruption of dust clouds again, which proved to be a great indicator for each band as to how well they were liked by the crowd. Obviously, the bigger cloud meant that more people were moshing.

The Jagermeister stage never slowed up a bit as the day progressed. Whitechapel  were next up to perform and were followed by The Devil Wears Prada and As I Lay Dying, who were alternating with Asking Alexandria as to who would open the main stage and being on the Jager stage before Anthrax. The godfathers of thrash and one fourth of the Big 4, Anthrax, chose to close the Jager stage everyday instead of playing the main stage. They were performing their bare bones, guerilla set which featured song after song, in your face, minimal talking, attack mode. Their set list ran the gauntlet and included songs that were recorded before a lot of the people up front in the pit were even born. “Anti-social”, “Caught in a Mosh” and “Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t” got great reactions from the massive crowd that formed to watch these icons of thrash.

The main stage began with Asking Alexandria, who had been alternating with As I Lay Dying for rights to open the big stage. Their set included “Closure”, “Morte et Diablo” and “A Lesson Never Learned” which seem to go over really well with the crowd. The main stage area slowly began to fill as they played as the smaller stages had finished their day and people began to filter over to the bigger stage.

The legendary Motorhead and their front man Lemmy soon took the stage. They were loud and kept the banter to a minimum as they blasted song after song from their extensive catalog. Lemmy did attempt to converse with the crowd between a few of the songs, but it was kept to a sentence or two and then on to another song. There wasn’t a lot to their stage presence, as their focal seemed to be purely on the music.

Another one fourth of the Big 4 was up next as Kerry King and Slayer took the stage to a huge roar of approval from the crowd.  As far as volume goes, I thought Motorhead was supposed to be loud! These guys took the volume knob that Motohead had turned up, cranked it up ALL the way and then ripped it off! They were dark, heavy, powerful and had a no BS approach to their show. There was almost no banter between songs as they unleashed on song after another. Kerry King is a menacing force to watch perform on the stage live. He aggressively slays that guitar as if there is a personal grudge between him and the instrument.

That left only one band to play and I can say with confidence that it was the band that almost the entire venue couldn’t wait to see perform. Slipknot was back and prepared to claim the stage that had made them somewhat legendary. This was, of course, the first US tour that band has taken on since the death of their bassist Paul Gray in 2010. The band took the stage and showed why their legions of fans are so dedicated to them. 

A Slipknot show is a sight to see as the nine members come together to form a nine headed masked beast of fury and pyro. They unleashed such classic s as “Duality” and “Psychosocial” with intensity and unbridled passion. It was truly a sight to see as lead singer Corey Taylor displayed the power that he has power that he has over the crowd at a Slipknot show. When he told the crowd to get down and jump when he counted to three, I looked around the crowded arena and could only see a scattered handful of people standing. That, my friend, is power and a pretty dynamic display for a front man of any band. Their set also included tons of pyro and even snow.

Of course, with each year’s announcement of the lineup for Mayhem, you hear the usual whining of people about how weak it is and that it’s not what it used to be. Yes, this year did see Sumerian Records having their own stage for the first time and they brought along several very hungry bands from their roster who all played great sets. There was also one half of the Big 4 with Anthrax and Slayer being there as well as the legendary Motorhead. Top it all off with the first US tour since 2010 by Slipknot as they set out to reclaim their elite status in the metal world. I think this year’s Mayhem had a great mix for everyone and 2013’s lineup will prove to be big shoes to fill in keeping up the great tradition of metal’s biggest touring summer package.

As I Lay Dying: A Decade of Intensity

It’s amazing how quickly ten years can just fly by. It seems like just yesterday when we were reading about this new band called As I Lay Dying and their debut album Beneath the Encasing of Ashes that had just been released. The band quickly won over fans and respect from the critics and other artists. They were a part of Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Soundwave Festival and many other huge shows. They also toured with such heavyweights as Disturbed, Slipknot and Lamb of God.

Now, here we are 10 years and 4 more studio albums later and As I Lay Dying are celebrating. To commemorate their anniversary, the band has released a new album to say thanks to their loyal fans. Decas consists of 3 new songs, 4 covers, 1 re-recorded medley and 4 remixes. It’s a mixed bag of tricks that is sure to satisfy all levels of As I Lay Dying fans. The album opens with “Paralyzed”, which is in the same vein of where the band was on their last album Powerless Rise. This song will definitely wet the appetites of fans who are anxiously awaiting a new studio album and tour. “Moving Forward” is cut from that same musical cloth and will not disappoint the listener.

Cover songs; some people like a band to put their own spin on them while others like for the band to stay true to the original. The band covers Slayer’s “War Ensemble” and totally, no pun intended, slays it. Tim’s vocals on this song fit just like a glove. Next, the band attacks “Hellion” and “Electric Eye” by Judas Priest and produce a result that even the rock icon Rob Halford would give a horns high salute to. The last cover is a 35 second insane spin on the Descendents’ “Coffee Mug”. The medley, “Beneath the Encasing”, contains parts of several songs from their debut Beneath the Encasing of Ashes.

As for the remixes, the band takes one song from each of their releases since Frail Worlds Collapse and I have to admit that there is some very bizarre territory being explored there. They seem a bit bizarre to me for some reason. I’m just not feeling them at all and I don’t think that they bring much to the table. It’s nice for a band to explore new territory and try to expand their horizons, but I am not sold on these remixes. In a world of the ever growing dubstep craze, I think this is a step backwards for the band. I’m just glad it’s for this special album and not a new musical direction for the guys.

Decas is a really solid album, minus the remixes, from the band. The musicianship on the new songs and covers is tighter than the band has ever sounded. Tim Lambesis’ growls are more aggressive than ever and very dark at times. Josh Gilbert’s clean vocals offer a great balance and contrast to Tim’s. This album is something for the fans and is not meant to take the place of a new studio album. If the three new songs are any indication of where the band is headed, then their follow-up to 2010’s Powerless Rise is going to be one of the most anticipated releases of the year.