As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis recently burnt 25% of his body after attempting to light a bonfire with gasoline.
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Austrian Death Machine have posted an update regarding their upcoming release, Triple Brutal.
We booked mastering time this week to make the official CD with track markers and all! Now on to discussions about who will manufacture Triple Brutal so we can get it to those of you who have been waiting. As said before, we are sorry for the delay and appreciate the understanding given the major recent events.
As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis has pleaded not guilty to one count of solicitation for murder at his arraignment in Vista Superior Court.
The prosecutor argued that Lambesis be held on $20 million bail, citing the musician’s wealth and global connections, but his defense attorney argued that the amount was unreasonable. If he bails out, he was ordered to stay away from his wife and their three children.
Authorities said they learned May 2 that Lambesis was soliciting someone to kill his wife. He was arrested Tuesday at an Oceanside store by sheriff’s investigators.
According to Reuters, Tim Lambesis, lead singer for the heavy metal band As I Lay Dying, was arrested in California on Tuesday on charges that he sought the help of an undercover detective to have his estranged wife killed, police said. The band were scheduled to start a headlining tour at the end of this month. No word on whether that will be canceled.
Lambesis was taken into custody in Oceanside, near San Diego, said San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell.
Police had previously learned Lambesis was looking for someone to carry out the killing, Caldwell said.
"The information came to us late last week. We acted quickly on it. I believe that we averted a great tragedy," she said.
Caldwell said the ongoing investigation prevented her from disclosing any details about why Lambesis might have wanted to have his wife killed or how police first learned about what they described as his murder plan.
Lambesis’ wife, Meggan, filed papers in San Diego Superior Court in September 2012 seeking a dissolution of marriage, according to an online court database.
This week’s “Classic Bands and Why We Love Them” contribution is from Chris Davis of Texas In July.
2003, my freshman year of high school, was a pretty awesome year for me as far discovering new bands and music. But one band in particular has stuck with me and made a huge impact on my life every day since. This band is As I Lay Dying.
I had bought the Headbangers Ball compilation CD, which featured many great bands but it was the second-to-last track on this disc that really knocked my socks off and caught my attention. The song was “Forever” by As I Lay Dying, and it was heavy yet melodic and had what I thought that time to be the craziest guitar riffs. I was hooked! I played that song on repeat for a few days, and then bought the album Frail Words Collapse a few day later. My mind was blown, the album was phenomenal front to back. Something fresh that I could connect to and be inspired by. I was hooked on As I Lay Dying.
Fast forward two years to 2005 and AILD released the album Shadows Are Security. This album was not only groundbreaking for the “Metalcore” genre as we know, and established their sound, but completely turned my world upside down. It changed how I thought about music, how I approached writing music and was therapeutic for me in many ways. I also saw them live for the first time, around this time period, and left the show stoked on life! I had never seen a band put on a show with such high energy, and yet play all of their instruments so well and so effortlessly. I knew from that night on, that being in a touring band was what I wanted to do with my life. They gave me the inspiration I needed to fully pursue my dream.
Fast forward once more to today, two albums and a ten year anniversary EP later, AILD released their 5th full length album in September and show no signs of slowing down. AILD has been making and releasing albums for more than twice as long as most bands careers last in this genre it seems. It takes a groundbreaking and inspirational band to have that kind of longevity. Longevity that I think can now classify AILD as a classic band.
TIJ and many of the bands we share the stage with these days owe much thanks to AILD for the music they’ve made, boundaries they’ve broken and inspiration to further expand on the musical styling they helped mold in to what we now know as “Metalcore.” They only continue to inspire me and so many other people around the world with every album they release, and I hope to one day share the stage with them. Thank you Tim, Jordan, Phil, Nick and Josh for the incredible music you have given us over the past 10+ years. You will forever be a classic an legendary band in my heart!
Metal is such a saturated genre lately, with so many subgenres and bands just rising out of the ground to try and claim their fifteen minutes of fame. With so many bands I find myself questioning how some of the older bands that started their careers in the early 90s and 2000s are still doing. My question seemingly has already been answered for me, with As I Lay Dying’s newest album, Awakened. Being an already well known and established band, the question is; how does their new release fare?
The intro track of any album usually does two things. One, it will set up the mood for an album and two, it will set up your expectations of an album, what you should expect out of the rest of it. Cauterize tells me two things about this album. It tells me that this album follows through with aggressive and powerful tones and excellent sounding metal riffs, great vocals, and plenty of solos. Tim Lambesis shines through as usual, delivering powerful heavy hitting vocals, along with Josh Gilbert providing equally powerful clean vocals on every track on the album. Lyrically the content is as powerful as ever, many tracks providing memorable choruses by Josh and verses by Tim, heard in many tracks. Tim deserves accolades for being one of the more ”understandable” vocalists in the metal genres, pronunciating his lyrics clearly.
My favorite tracks of this record are Cauterize, Defender (a powerful track both vocally and lyrically, offering positive inspiration), and Overcome (the intro solo to the song is simply beautiful), but really every track is good on this record. That in itself while initially being a positive aspect, also lends to the fact that there isn’t a huge deviation in sound between tracks. They’ve stayed relatively true to their previous styles and sound, with some songs incorporating heavier metalcore and thrash metal influenced riff work. As stated previously there is a lack of experimentation within their last few albums that they’ve release and that is also true for this one. While it never hurts to stick to your established sound, it also never hurts to stray the path and try something somewhat different.
There’s not much more I could briefly say about this album without going into a detailed track by track review, so please excuse this rather short review.. Awakened is a strong album, well produced, well written and well sounding. Fans of As I Lay Dying will love it, fans of metal and its subgenres will enjoy it, concert goers and moshers will love it played live (there are plenty of moments in this album for moshers to just let loose). This album in my eyes is a true example of Modern American Metal. Pick it up when it drops September 25, 2012.
-Christian
It’s time to be awakened.
The Grammy-nominated rock group AS I LAY DYING will release their sixth album, AWAKENED, September 25 on Metal Blade. Pre-orders are available today, August 20, via: http://www.metalblade.com/asilaydying/. After wrapping a successful run as a main stage act on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival with Slipknot, Slayer and more, the group will headline a special album release show-full details to be announced soon. On October 15, they’ll launch a European tour with Trivium, Caliban and Upon A Burning Body before returning to the U.S. in November for a nationwide tour.
AS I LAY DYING just completed a video for the new single “A Greater Foundation.” The rock group teamed with director Drew Russ (A Day To Remember, Falling In Reverse) and producer Robby Starbuckfor the performance-based clip which was shot on location in Los Angeles. "We were all impressed with Drew’s ability to capture the intensity of live band performances in his videos, and ‘A Greater Foundation’ is no exception, explains bassist JOSH GILBERT. “ Drew’s technique, along with the all-day participation of some of our diehard fans in Los Angeles, definitely accentuated the energy of the song and makes for an exciting and dynamic video. We can’t wait to unveil it!”
For AWAKENED, the San Diego-basedband–NICK HIPA (guitar), TIM LAMBESIS (vocals), JORDAN MANCINO (drums), PHIL SGROSSO (guitar) and JOSH GILBERT (bass)–holed up in the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO with renowned rock producer Bill Stevenson (Descendents) and mixer Colin Richardson. AWAKENED marks the follow-up to the Decas EP (2011) which reached # 2 on the iTunes Rock Chart. The group’s last LP, 2010′simmensely successful The Powerless Rise, debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #10. The Powerless Risealso reached #2 on Billboard’s Independent Albums Chart and #3 on Billboard’s Hard Music Albums Chart.
We just got confirmed to interview Whitechapel, The Devil Wears Prada, and As I Lay Dying at Mayhem Festival! Comment below with your questions for them! (?)
Miss May I are currently out on tour with Parkway Drive, and we had a chance to interview Miss May I from the road. Levi and I spoke about the tour, finishing their new album in the studio, meaning of the album art, future touring, and more!
State your name and role in the band, please.
Levi Benton Vocalist in Miss May I
You’re currently on tour with Parkway Drive; how is the tour going for you guys? Is it nice playing to a different crowd than maybe you guys are used to?
It’s been great so far on this tour and HUGE! Also yes it’s been so nice to play to a real metal crowd and the fans are being great to us as well. Most of them are seeing us for the first time and they are great! Can’t wait to come back!
I noticed the release date for At Heart has been pushed back to June 12th; was it due to a change in the album cover? I know numerous people have wanted the lion to come back.
I know we have been bashed quite a bit on the new album cover but I feel like since we are finally having an OFFICIAL Lion Logo for Miss May I then the story and meaning of At Heart would be lost with just the logo. Also the packaging is great so just you wait ;) The push back was due to some last minute changes on the album.
Speaking of: what’s the significance behind the album title, and how does it tie in with the album art?
Throughout the album artwork it shows how each song is sang from the heart and that is all that matters. No more just trying to be tough and in a metal band but play music worth playing and feeling. The child on the cover shows that even from the beginning of life you have to speak from the heart.
What’s one thing that you can tell us about the album that everyone wouldn’t know on their own?
The album is actually all recorded with the same microphone I play with live a SM58 and its the first time I ever held a mic in hand and recorded on a album.
How is At Heart a progression from your last album, Monument?
Well, we definitely spent way more time on this album more than we have ever spent on a album before. We actually got a chance to do pre-production and sit back and listen to the album before we tracked it so we made sure the best of the best made it to the album.
What song changed the most during the recording process?
The biggest track of the album and the most meaningful song “Hey Mister” probably changed the most and got rearranged at least 3-5 times before ever officially tracking. But the final product turned out great!
What guest vocals did you have on the record, if any? I’m guessing Telle from The Word Alive returned the favor since you appeared on “2012”.
We actually didn’t have any guest vocals this time on the record. We are more about playing live as good as possible and we feel the more guest vocals that clutter the album the more it would not sound the same live.
Did you return the favor on Attack Attack’s newest album? (not This Means War; they made an announcement that they have completed ten songs, produced by John Feldmann, for another album)
Actually I didn’t and I wish I could have!
At Heart is your third album on Rise; that being said is your contract fulfilled, or can we expect another album on the label?
It is our last album on Rise Records but we have not yet looked into new labels yet. WE have put most of our time into making At Heart as large as possible first.
Any more songs about video games like Rust?
Not yet haha. If it was up to us though there would be one about Skyrim or Battlefield 3 on this record.
In your live performances, as soon as your start screaming, you have a much harder time doing more demanding vocal parts. Eventually by the end of the set it sounds like you find it almost impossible to hold a scream out. What impact has this had on how you arrange your set list, and how you take care of your voice outside of your performance? Have you considered going to Melissa Cross for vocal lessons?
I have went to Melissa Cross and I have had a great performance ever since!
I’ve read in other interviews that you’re influenced by As I Lay Dying but what do you say to the critics who think you’re a watered-down version of AILD?
Well we are very big fans of AILD and I know sometimes it seems like we are alike but I guess thats what happens when you are inspired.
What do you hope the remainder of the year holds for MMI, with a new album looming and everything?
Well we will have the year packed with tours and magazine press and have some surprises already scheduled so keep your eyes peeled.
Last question: What are one book and one band that you’d recommend to anyone that listens to your band?
I don’t read books and As I Lay Dying.
As I Lay Dying ended 2011, the year of their tenth anniversary as a band, with an extremely successful headlining tour. The Decade of Destruction Tour ran November-December through the US. While on the tour, the band captured live footage from several shows. The footage was edited by the band’s own Nick Hipa into what has become the band’s next video: Paralyzed. The video encapsulates As I Lay Dying in a special moment in time; their tenth anniversary tour in front of sold-out crowds full of devoted fans. The video is available now via the band’s youtube channel HERE.
As I Lay Dying are currently writing their fifth album and are preparing to enter the studio this April. The producer, title, art and all other details will be released over the next few months. Fans can expect to hear new material this summer as the band performs as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. Dates and tickets can be found over on rockstarmayhemfest.com.
Keep up with AS I LAY DYING at the following locations:
http://www.decasalbum.com
http://www.asilaydying.com
http://www.facebook.com/asilaydying
http://twitter.com/ASILAYDYINGBAND
Follow the band members on twitter:
http://twitter.com/timlambesis
http://twitter.com/sgroz
http://twitter.com/yesthenickhipa
http://twitter.com/jordansapproach
http://twitter.com/Josh_Gilbert