As I Lay Dying – “An Ocean Between Us”

Holy shit! As I Lay Dying is back with their fucking awesome their follow-up to Shadows Are Security. To be entirely honest, I didn’t think it would be possible for the band to rise above their last album, but An Ocean Between Us kicks the tired and worn out ass of Shadows.

The album kicks off with “Separation”, which is actually a gentle intro. The soft, rhythmic instrumental is cut short when the straight-up, bone-grinding metal of “Nothing Left” takes over, thirsting to take a bite out of your ear drum. Tim Lambesis’ vocals on the track are as harsh as ever; with the addition of down-tuned, thrash guitar, double kicking, and a sick new bass player, it only makes sense that this track is placed above God-like levels.

Fourth on the album, and my personal favorite, is “Within Destruction”. Right from the first beat, this track has got to be the heaviest the band has ever wrote. At first, I didn’t believe it was the same band – they went from metalcore to thrash metal, and oh does it ever kick ass. About halfway through the song the tempo changes to a softer sound, yet the distortion remains at the same level. Once the little detour is over, the band kicks it into overdrive, pushing the song right back into its heavy stream. To any metal fan: this is the track to mosh to.

“Bury Us All” is eighth on the album. With the double bass pedals pounding in your ears, there is only one way to listen to this song: loud; any other way is pointless. Also, the lyrics give you chills, even more so than the music does. The lyrics attest that you shouldn’t take shit from people, and stand up while you still can. Tim says, “I for one would rather suffer now, than leave this life without passion.” That line alone hits home, and I’m pretty damn sure that half of you reading this right now are going to think, “Oh man, I gotta do that.” I know I did.

All in all, An Ocean Between Us has got to be the bands best album to date. Some people may disagree, solely because it’s more thrash than metalcore, but hell, how many thrash bands still thrive?  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Separation
02. Nothing Left
03. An Ocean Between Us
04. Within Destruction
05. Forsaken
06. Comfort Betrays
07. I Never Wanted
08. Bury Us All
09. The Sound Of Truth
10. Departed
11. Wrath Upon Ourselves
12. This Is Who We Are

Run Time: 43:22
Release Date: 2007