As I Lay Dying “Decas” review
As I Lay Dying
Tim Lambesis
Jordan Mancino
Phil Sgrosso
Nick Hipa
Josh Gilbert
Metal Blade Records found a gem in Grammy nominated, As I Lay Dying. These guys have a strong following and continue to put out solid records with solid shows to back them up. Their newest record, Decas, drops November 8th and it’s not one to miss!
Nov. 8, 2011
Paralyzed is a strong track, making it perfect to put first on the album. It hooks you early so you want to hear the rest of the record. It lets you know that the band is still incorporating clean vocals in with their regular growls. This will be make you happy or bummed. I’ve come to find out that half the fans love the clean mix and others prefer all metal screams. Welp, TO EACH ITS OWN. Either way, this isn’t my favorite track on the album, but it’s definitely a great start.
The second track, From Shapeless to Breakable, keeps you thinking you’ve got the general tone of the album down. It still sounds like traditional AILD, and is another strong track. It’s got some great guitar riffs and a bit less of the clean vocal stylings of Tim. Moving Forward is a bit softer, with a lot more actual singing and less metal-ly. Some people are going to be into it, but other metal heads might be like “WTF, MANG.” I say that variety is good. Even if every track doesn’t make you wanna bang your head and bench press 300 pounds, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good fit for the album.
They pick the pace back up with War Ensemble, with a Slayer-esque opening beat. OH WAIT, IT’S A SLAYER COVER! Right on. You’ve got the growling back, which made me stoked. It’s the side of AILD that I prefer. It’s almost five minutes long, which is SO METAL. You don’t even notice “Damn, this song never ends.” You’re more like… “Yeah, I’m into it.” I think I can safely say this is probably my favorite track on the record, along with the other cover. Is that a bad thing??
Hellion brings you a 44 second long guitar solo with some light drums incorporated. Weird.
Let’s skip to the good stuff. Coffee Mug is the song that broke the mold for me. For anyone that knows me at all (or sees my Milo shark tattoo), they are aware that I am a huge Descendents fan. The fact this band not only covered this song, but put it on the record, makes me look at them in a whole new light: THEY ARE MORE AWESOME. Not just that, but it’s actually a rad cover. In my opinion, a cover shouldn’t be the band trying to sound exactly like the original, but instead paying tribute to the song by making it sound like them [them, being the band doing the cover] while playing the original song. AMIRIGHT. This particular cover is a great example. You can tell it’s As I Lay Dying performing the song, but you recognize it as the Descendent’s song. Bravo. This would be called my favorite track, but since it’s a cover I feel like an asshole for saying that so that’s how it is.
Moving along to Beneath the Encasing. This track is a re-recording from their debut album, Beneath the Encasing of Ashes [2001]. It’s a METAL-ly if you will (that was a play on words of “medley” for those of you not as retarded as myself). I think it is a good representation of their sound as a band and showcases their skills as musicians. It’s that AILD sound that I prefer, hands down. You can’t really categorize it as anything but metal.
The next track begins the string of electronica remixes. The first thing I thought was, “Oh man… this is gonna piss a lot of people off.” haha, so anything that brings that to mind first, is AWESOME. However, I’m not big into the whole dubstep-electronica-candy-kid scene (except Enter Shikari is THE JAM AND DON’T GET IT TWISTED). The Blinding False Light is AILD’s first guest-remix premiere, coming from Innerpartysystem. Following is Benjamin Weinman’s (Dillinger Escape Plan) remix, Wrath Upon Ourselves. I prefer this track to the previous, and not just because I don’t know who Innerpartysystem is and I’m a DEP fan, but it’s just more of a “this shit sounds fucked up!” versus “Oh this would be playing at some sort of rage” track.
While fans might be weirded out or even pissed off at all the diversity on this record, I highly respect their balls. Balls to step outside their normal metal world, that is.
Big Chocolate finished the album off with his remix, Elegy. This track is borderline insane. Sort of like…. me! It could possibly give you a seizure, but the good kind! Again, this style isn’t really my bag, but I can respect these dudes for taking this leap. I’d rather see a band go absurdly away from their normal path and me not be into it than make the same record ten times.
November 8th, Decas drops on Metal Blade. We all know that MB is one of the most respected labels in the metal scene, and they don’t let us down. We can always rally up and punch people in the face if they do. I believe. *squeezes fists*
Favorite Tracks: Beneath the Encasing, Paralyzed, Coffee Mug
Don’t miss my interview with Josh (guitar)!
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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