Member of American mainstream metal band, As I Lay Dying (AILD) do not let the year 2012 slip away. They join the wagon of other mainstream bands in releasing studio album for the world. As we already received this year, Lamb of God (Resolation) and Shadows Fall (Fire From the Sky) come earlier. All three has something in similarity, playing in the metalcore and groovemetal genre, and all Grammy nominee. As I Lay Dying continued their decade long of career with a release of Awakened as their 6th studio album this September 2012. The band had gone some adjustment in their music direction as happening in The Powerless Rise, to the fans of earlier era, this album can be a relief as AILD return to a more basic metalcore essential. To serve this San Diego based team, is producer Bill Stevenson (drummer of Descendents band).
Come and enjoy Cauterize and A Greater Foundation, the first two tracks from the album. We are presented an high end form of metalcore, with furious vocal lining above an ultra catchy riff and speed drumming. When come to Resilience we get a slow and epic intro before returning to blistering guitar riff mixed with overwhelming screaming. Guitar solos also great up to this point. One of nice point in this album is the ability of the band to convert a minor and epic feel ala power metal into metalcore piece, just with a pause in some cases, as happening in Whispering Silence on track five. Also what important in metalcore is the connection between screaming verses and "melodious" chorus, which is happening nicely in a song like Overcome. And talking about groovy, there is a song like No Lungs to Breathe which is a good play in tempo and groove. What else, the bass orientated track? Then we have Defender, where singer and bassist Josh Gilbert enjoy a front highlight with his dictating bass line. In the end part, left us with two "suspected filler" songs, My Only Home and Tear Out My Eyes, both serving as nice ending tracks to good bye with this solid album.
Awakened come with high expectation from fans, and I think As I Lay Dying done the job quite good in this album. This is a fun listening experience for non metalcore fans like me, with I understand can also meaning as too generic for solid fans of the genre. Guitar solos done briefly in each song but at least they are dominant and important, mostly done in simply blues pentatonic scale. Lyrically, the band stated they were faith devoted members and the lyric inspired mostly with this feature, but they are not "too preachy" and never was I think. And in some cases the lyric even heard as an autocritic to the belief system, as in Defender,
Fighting so hard to be heard
Yet having nothing to say
You talk about changing masses
But forget those close to you
Most of us have given up
On these words that all sound the same
But i am still willing to believe
If you have done all that you can
I also like the structurally lyric as in Overcome which connected well with the song. A straight "likes" to this album, come and listen to yourself.
Fighting so hard to be heard
Yet having nothing to say
You talk about changing masses
But forget those close to you
Most of us have given up
On these words that all sound the same
But i am still willing to believe
If you have done all that you can
I also like the structurally lyric as in Overcome which connected well with the song. A straight "likes" to this album, come and listen to yourself.
As I Lay Dying dengan album teranyar Awakened, review.
Band mainstream beraliran metalcore, As I Lay Dying tidak melewatkan tahun 2012 tanpa buah tangan buat para penggemar musik cadas. Band asal San Diego ini turun serta meluncurkan album baru Awakened untuk menyemarakkan menyusul beberapa rekan band lain sealiran yang terlebih dahulu turun gunung. Seperti yang sudah di-review sebelumnya (dalam bahasa Inggris), Shadows Fall dan Lamb of God terlebih dahulu merilis album baru di tahun 2012. Ketiga band ini cukup mirip, setidaknya bagi saya, sama-sama berada di teritori metalcore dengan groove-metal yang kental, dan sama-sama sudah ada di arus utama / mainstream, dan sama-sama pesaing dalam memperebutkan Grammy di cabang metal. Melalui album ke-enamnya, Awakened, As I Lay Dying meneruskan karir mereka yang sudah ada sejak tahun 2000. Walaupun sempat mengalami perubahan seperti di album sebelumnya Powerless Rise, tampaknya album Awakened beranjak kembali ke akar metalcore mereka, di mana akan lebih bersahabat dengan fans-fans awal. Untuk memproduksi album ini, drummer Descendent, Bill Stevenson bertugas mengawal di balik papan mixer.
Dua nomer pertama Cauterize dan A Greater Foundation membawa kita ke riff cadas dengan lagu yang dinyanyikan dengan serak dan keras. Intro dari A Greater Foundation yang dimainkan dengan drum tempo stacatto/putus-putus langsung disambung dengan vocal dari Tim Lambesis yang cadas. Resilience masuk dengan rumus standard, melody chordal yang disambung dengan iringan drum bergaya 'pembukaan'. Wasted Words juga lagu yang tidak banyak basa-basi dan langsung disambar oleh band dengan penuh semangat. Satu point mantap di album ini adalah, AILD bisa menggubah tempo dari metalcore ke gaya power metal hanya dengan pause sejenak, seperti yang dibawakan di lagu Whispering Silence. Di lagu Overcome, koneksi antara verse dan chorus bertaut dengan indah. Lalu di No Lungs to Breathe, adalah permainan groove yang kental dan apik. Sementara di lagu Defender, sang bassist menikmati momentnya memetik bass dengan penuh perhatian. Dua lagu terakhir masih tetap dengan nuansa yang sama, walaupun sedikit lebih umum , namun cocok sebagai tembang penghabisan di album ini. (metalharem.blogspot.com)
Walaupun album Awakened penuh dengan 'tekanan' untuk lebih baik dari penggemar, tapi As I Lay Dying tampaknya berhasil keluar dari kondisi under pressure dan menerbitkan satu lagu piringan berbobot yang bisa bertahan di telinga penggemar. Memang masih ada momen di mana lagu-lagu terlalu 'umum' tapi ini adalah album yang enak untuk dinikmati. Gitaris Nick dan Phil bermain cukup habis-habisan di sini. Lagu yang patutu diperhatikan adalah solo di Defender, di mana drummer Jordan juga cukup kreatif memasukkan beberapa pola yang indah untuk kebutuhan per lagu. Secara lirik, kita tahu As I Lay Dying adalah band yang dekat dengan keyakinan keTuhanan, di mana mempengaruhi lirik yang disajikan. Jika anda membaca review ini di tahun 2013, selamat menikmati penampilan mereka di festival Metal Hammersonic, Ancol Jakarta. (di sadur bebas 2013, metalharem.blogspot.com )
As I Lay Dying - Awakened 2012
01. Cauterize
02. A Greater Foundation
03. Resilience
04. Wasted Words
05. Whispering Silence
06. Overcome
07. No Lungs to Breathe
08. Defender
09. Washed Away
10. My Only Home
11. Tear Out My Eyes
Tim Lambesis– Vocals
Jordan Mancino – Drums
Nick Hipa – Guitar
Phil Sgrosso – Guitar
Josh Gilbert – Bass
an Hellenistic influence artwork? the cover album for As I Lay Dying:
an Hellenistic influence artwork? the cover album for As I Lay Dying:
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