Metalcore. Quite a genre that has grown rapidly lately. Soon after years, the genre copied itself, and now it’s becoming quite bland in some bands. One band that realized this was As I Lay Dying. They wanted to included new musical influences to there upcoming album so that they wouldn't be that simple and boring. Where they successful? HELL YES
The first track, separation, is a beautiful, short instrumental containing duel guitar that its ending prepares u for the upcoming track. I personally listen to it every time before i go to nothing left-the next track. it only takes a few seconds to hear Jordan Mancino double bass drumming, which is quite brutal and fast. Guitars on this one... i personally did not think the riff was that impressive or right for the songs, but the solos raged throughout the song, and who doesn't like raging solos? Tims voice has not changed that much over time, still strong, brutal, but hard to understand. new bassist clean vocals get the job done through, and do well with his screams at the chorus.
Title track is next. You see less metalcore drumming and more thrashy speedy style for mancino on this one, showing that he is in fact a fair match for Dave Lombardo. The riff is simple, but accessible and fun to listen to as it gets higher in verses. You see the bassist can sing and sound well even without the help of screams from Tim. This is overall a great song, though after chorus is simple and there no solo, (sobs). Within destruction is next, the song is PURE THRASH. I am surprised this is even on a metalcore album, the guitar, the drums; everything but maybe the vocals is thrash, which in my opinion is more good then bad. There are no clean vocals on this track, making this one of the more intense and brutal songs. Forsaken is just the opposite, having a melodic guitar intro, and having more singing on a typical track on this album. This is one of my favorites, due to the impressive vocals on both screaming and clean, speedy drums, and melodic guitar work, and if your not getting the album i suggest this track. Comfort betrays is quite brutal, due to its absence on clean vocals. Drums on this track are just insane, this riff is probably the best of the album, and even matches within destruction on brutality. I never wanted slows done the pace, the instruments are far less complicated. why? It shows off vocals work. And WOW. both singers do there best vocal performance on here, the bassists voice is perfect, tims voice is beyond perfect on his screams, and of course manincos double bass work during the end is quite impressive to. Bury us all shows off mancino ability even more, his blast beats are quite impressive, but besides that this is a very average track. The most popular track and most likely the best track is next, the sound of truth. The guitar riff on chorus... It’s insane, and is probably the best metalcore riff i have ever heard besides trivium's song ascendancy. but the solo, WOW, best solo on the album, most likely the best guitar work this band has ever done I don't care if you don't even like this band for the love of god listen to this solo. Vocals, excellent performance. And of course as usual drums are great, his double bass thundering throughout the song, and of course the catchiness of the chorus is always a good thing to have as well. The next tracks (not counting the instrumental departed) are very... Filler, and just are way to similar to the others, the instrumental was OK, but I never liked cheesy val halen tapping
So overall, awesome album, as i lay dying went beyond the metalcore wall and used thrash influences, more clean vocals, and very diverse tracks to make this a very successful album. But unfortunately it suffered from guitar riffs being stale and repetitive and Tims inability to change the tone of his screams. If u are just getting into metalcore, let this album be your tour guide into this wonderful genre
