As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying is an American metal core band which is currently signed to Metal Blade records. The band formed in 2001 in San Diego, California. All five members of the band are Christian and the music is sometimes classified as containing Christian themes, however they do not consider themselves a Christian band.

The band currently consists of 5 members- Jordan Mancino (drums), Nick Hipa (lead guitar), Phil Sgrosso (rhythm guitar), Josh Gilbert (bass guitar, backup singer), and Tim Lambesis (lead vocals).
They have released 4 studio albums, 1 compilation (best of) album and one live DVD. Their debut album, "Beneath the Encasing of Ashes", was recorded 3 months after their formation and released on June 12, 2001. Initially this album sold very poorly and received fairly mediocre reviews but after more than a year of touring the sales picked up as people experienced their energetic concerts.On July 1, 2003 As I lay Dying released their second album entitled "Frail Words Collapse". This album is considered their breakthrough album and sold fairly well. As for critical acclaim it was mostly hailed as a very solid metal album but lacked innovation. It was after the release and sales of this album that As I Lay Dying were invited to tour with some larger name bands such as Hatebreed, In Flames and Shadows Fall.

In 2005, As I Lay Dying returned to studio to record and release their third album which was titled "Shadows are Security". This album released on June 14, 2005 and sold very well (250,000 albums in total) and received very positive reviews. It was in the running on many lists for best album of the year but did not receive any wins, however it still had excellent comments from the critics.

On May 16, 2006 As I Lay Dying released their compilative album "A Long March: The First Recordings" which sold surprisingly well but received mostly negative reviews. I am forced to agree with the critics in this matter I feel it was too soon in their career for the band to re-record most of their earlier songs and unreleased songs.

However, to make up for this somewhat disappointing (in my mind) album they released their fourth and latest album on August 21, 2007. This album was titled "An Ocean Between Us" and it has been As I Lay Dying's best selling album to date selling 39,000 albums in the first week and reaching number one on the billboard charts. It was well received by fans and fairly well received by critics but considered a step towards more main stream rock and thrash metal and a step away from metal core. The song "Nothing Left" from this album was nominated for a Grammy for best metal performance. I highly recommend picking this album up as it is the perfect blend of As I Lay Dying style: rough lyrics, melodic choruses and fantastic guitar play.

On April 14, 2009 As I Lay Dying released their first live DVD titled "This Is Who We Are". This has been a highly succesful concert DVD which has sold over 40,000 copies worldwide and attained Gold status within the United States.

They are a considered a young but successful metal band with over 1,000,000 albums sold worldwide and are currently on tour and in the process of writing songs for their new CD. In recent news from the bands official site, for which the link can be found below, they have won a Grammy for Best Music Video with their video for "The Sound of Truth".
As I Lay Dying is currently on their This is Who We Are tour across the world and in the past have played with some of the largest metal bands in the world including: Children of Bodom, Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Bring Me the Horizon, Haste the Day, Trivium, In Flames and God Forbid.

While they may be a fairly well known metal band with a unique sound I recommend you give them a listen or purchase their two latest CDs if you have not heard them before. You can check them out at their official site below, which offers merchandise, tour dates, band news and information as well as it allows for streaming of their videos.

Official Band Site: http://www.asilaydying.com/

Below are two of my favorite songs you can check out:
Nothing Left


The Sound of Truth