(Nuclear Blast Records)
Total Time: 44:05
In May 2013, AS I LAY DYING’s singer Tim Lambesis was arrested and that shook the metal world. AS I LAY DYING a year before (2012), had released “Awakened” and were at the top of their career. The band at that time was the pioneers of New Wave of American Death Metal and Metalcore. The band broke up and the other members after disavowing Lambesis, created WOVENWAR without success. Tim Lambesis in 2014 was sentenced to 6 years in prison and everything indicated that AS I LAY DYING would be a memory. In 2017 Lambesis was released from prison and together with the other members, apparently because of their failure with WOVENWAR, they forgot their statements few years ago for Tim. AS I LAY DYING were reunited. So, in summer of 2018 AS I LAY DYING released a video for the new song “My Own Grave” and all the fans were excited. The band started live performances and the rumors for a new album from AS I LAY DYING began.
“Shaped By Fire” are “Redefined” were the next songs that the band released . Everything shows that the band returned with fierce intentions to sit back on its throne, a throne that no other band could touch. The album starts with an intro, and then from the firts song “Blinded” until the song that closes the album “Toll It Takes” AS I LAY DYING proves that it was, is and will be the kings of Metacore and one of extreme metal’s best band. All the songs are great, even if they don’t offer us anything we’ve never heard from them before. I would describe the album as a mix of “An Ocean Between Us” with “The Powerless Rise” just more melodic.
All the elements that we loved in AS I LAY DYING are here, furious guitars, groove rhythms, lovely melodies and of course the change between brutal and clean vocals of Lambesis and Gilbert with majestic chorus . Jordan Mancino has done amazing work on drums, real machine gun and together with Gilbert’s bass and the awesome production they build a massive rhythm section that destroys everything in its path. The lyrics of Lambesis are personal and refer to the situations experienced in recent years.
In” Shaped By Fire” we meet some of the best riffs, chorus and melodies the band has ever written! AS I LAY DYING are born again from their ashes and they return stronger than ever, giving Metalcore lessons to all! They retain all the elements that made them huge and releasing a very good album, certainly much better than their last work “Awakened” of 2012.
Rating: 8/10
Nikos Manousis
Related Link: AS I LAY DYING – Official Page
