As I Lay Dying - An Ocean Between Us Review
Posted by Brandon Ratliff on 08.22.2007
Flying is the only way to fly.
As I Lay Dying – An Ocean Between Us
Release Date: August 21, 2007
Label: Metal Blade Records
Produced By: Adam Dutkiewicz
First Single: Nothing Left
Recommended Downloads: An Ocean Between Us, Within Destruction, Wrath Upon Ourselves
As I Lay Dying is:
Vocals: Tim Lambesis
Guitar: Nick Hipa
Guitar: Phil Sgrosso
Bass: Josh Gilbert
Drums: Jordan Mancino
Tracklisting
1. Separation
2. Nothing Left
3. An Ocean Between Us
4. Within Destruction
5. Forsaken
6. Comfort Betrays
7. I Never Wanted
8. Bury Us All
9. The Sound Of Truth
10. Departed
11. Wrath Upon Ourselves
12. This Is Who We Are
You know, band names can come from millions of different places. Sometimes someone will just think of the most cool/funny/oddball/womanly (Come on, Coldplay?)/whatever else thing that may come to mind. Sometimes it’s taken from another form of media. Historical figures. It could be a ton of different things. As I Lay Dying, as some of you may know, was taken from the famous book by author William Faulkner where a family takes their recently deceased matriarch to town to bury her in accordance with her wishes. It contains something of a real-life omnipotent setting, going through internal struggles of each character, and containing probably one of the most noted and quoted chapter titles of all time: “My Mother Is A Fish.”
But enough of that. Oddly enough, front man Tim Lambesis, despite using the book’s title for the name of his band (and in a way, it kind of is his band as he and drummer Jordan Mancino are the only original members), has said that he read the book and really didn’t like it all that much.
But as I seem to be doing a lot recently, I digress.
So, in Matt Shoemaker’s review of Shadows Are Security, he mentioned that his biggest complaint with that album was that guitarists Hipa and Sgrosso played a little too much together, rather than alternating a little more, which was a problem I had with it as well. After all, what is the point of having two guitarists if they constantly play the same riffs? This is logic that, sadly, does not carry well as many bands are guilty of this infraction. But with a band like As I Lay Dying, where much of the riffing and guitar work relies on technical precision, it is something that is very noticeable. Did they fix it this time around? Let’s have a look.
Click the picture to buy the album.
The album starts off with “Separation”, which is something of a cliché intro in that it basically starts with some ambient noise that leads into a slow instrumental that fades into “Nothing Left”, the first single and opening proper. This song is reminiscent of “Meaning In Tragedy” with the intro being a lot of higher notes than lead into a chugging verse line. But even so, right off the bat that question asked earlier is answered, and only during one riff do the two guitarists play the same line. One other thing you’ll notice? This album comes with a lot more intensity, and a lot more precision than ever before. Hipa and Sgrossa still don’t play guitar solos all that much, but when they do, the solos fit perfectly and don’t ever slow the pacing of the song. Imagine it like a guy on his way to work running into a 7-11. He gets in, gets what he needs, and gets out. An odd comparison, but it works. Several of the tracks could be highlighted, but the one that deserves the most attention is the stand-out “Within Destruction.” This song is very brutal and very atmospheric at the same time, and it would definitely make the guys from Slayer happy. When Lambesis said that An Ocean Between Us would be borrowing some thrash elements, he was quite serious, and this song is the epitome of that.
And now for the bad stuff. While new bassist Josh Gilbert does a great job on his instrument throughout the album, keeping a pounding rhythm section along with drummer Jordan Mancino (who has never sounded better, by the way), Gilbert’s clean vocals aren’t quite as good as Clint Norris’ on Shadows Are Security. For those keeping track, Norris left the band early this year to settle down and get married. So you won’t find anything with soaring clean vocals like “Confined” or “The Darkest Nights” here. And the odd thing is that the band seems to acknowledge this. When Gilbert does do vocals, they always sound ethereal, and more importantly, heavily processed, with several layers of chorus and other effects added to his voice. Some may argue that this fits As I Lay Dying’s music better, and that is purely a matter of opinion, but simply put, Gilbert is not a good of a clean vocalist as Norris was. In light of this, it makes one wonder why they rely so heavily on his singing in songs like “Forsaken.” The pseudo-ballad isn’t terrible, but imagine hearing Norris singing it, and it will sound a lot better. As songs like “Comfort Betrays” will show you though, the band can write good music without using clean vocals, and I honestly think they should stick to that more.
This album is one that shows As I Lay Dying coming into their own more than ever before. Actually, do something for me. If you like these guys, I’m willing to bet you like Killswitch Engage and Unearth as well. So take Shadows Are Security, Unearth’s The Oncoming Storm, and Killswitch Engage’s The End Of Heartache. Listen to them end to end in that order. Notice how, while all three bands do sound different, that they each borrow elements from one another. Also make note of the fact that Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz produced the latter two (Unearth and KsE). Now, listen to this album, Unearth’s In The Eyes Of Fire, and Killswitch Engage’s As Daylight Dies. Notice how much more different they all seem now? Killswitch expanded on their heavy sound mixed with the play off between Howard Jones and Dutkiewicz’s crooning choruses, Unearth went more down the straight up metal road, and As I Lay Dying went more toward the Slayer-esque thrash road. Yet, interestingly enough, Dutkiewicz produced As Daylight Dies and An Ocean Between Us, while the production of In The Eyes Of Fire was left to Terry Date. Odd?
Anyhow, this album is a definitely improvement over Shadows Are Security. Every band member that remains stepped their game up quite a bit. Lambesis’ screams are all the more searing, and Sgrosso and Hipa play tribute to Slayer and other thrash icons in days past and learn to make excellent use of the fact that there are, in fact, two guitarists in this band. But the man that should receive the most praise here is Jordan Mancino. No drummer in metalcore can match this man in speed, fills, or precision, and I can only think of a handful of drummers in general that can match him period. And most of those have been in their game for over twenty years (think Dream Theater’s Portnoy and Rush’s Peart). Otherwise, the only real negative here is the clean vocals from new bassist Josh Gilbert. He’s not overly terrible and not even quite offensive, but he does lack the voice that Norris had. Oh, and also listen to “Wrath Upon Ourselves.” If you can get through that entire song without headbanging (assuming you’re a metal fan and not someone special to me that I ask to read my writing to get her opinion on it, which is thankfully always positive), there is something up with you. Or…you know, maybe your neck is sore from all of it that you had already done to the rest of the album.
Either way, this is a highly recommended addition to the catalogue of a band that deserves your attention. Pick it up, I mean it’s under ten bucks at the link I listed above for crying out loud.
The 411: This is a very good effort by As I Lay Dying. The music is top notch, as the two guitarists really improved on the already solid writing of Shadows Are Security by a ton here. There is a very noticeable thrash element running throughout, and that is definitely a good thing as this band is very capable of it. But man, this album makes me want steak for some reason. Drenched in A1 sauce too. Steak is good. I like steak. Actually, I like food in general. Food is good. Isn’t it odd how food and good end the same way, yet they don’t rhyme? That’s weird man. Uhh…O czym mowilismy?
