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As I Lay Dying
- Shadows Are Security - Metal Blade Records 2005
12 Songs
Running Time: 43:28
Well, at long last, here it is. This is the album over which so much hoopla has
been made this year that we're currently in danger of a worldwide hoopla
shortage. I've never been a fan of the standard paint-by-numbers metal of As
I
Lay Dying. Something about
a band that admittedly hopped into a studio to record their
first album a mere month after formation just didn't speak of passion. To me,
it
screamed "Quick! Let's grab onto the rear bumper
of this bandwagon before it passes!". And grab on they
have, their major label debut launching the band into a number
one Most Downloaded spot on the now-defunct mp3.com, and
garnering the band a legion of fans in the process. And now,
with Shadows Are Security, the boys in AILD whip out their
instruments to construct the metal equivalent of a third
grade Science project. You know, the kind with the volcano
that's supposed to erupt, spewing molten ketchup and food
colouring on the unsuspecting plastic villagers below? The
only problem is that this volcano doesn't just not erupt.
Hell, it never even reaches boiling point. AILD charges out
of the gates with 'Meaning In Tragedy', closely approximating
the fury of a tranquilized ferret. Sure, the meaty guitars
are
there, and Lambesis' voice is appropriately burly, but simply
knowing where to riff and when to growl does not a great
band make. Melodic vocals insert themselves into the Killswitch-inspired
'Confined' but come off as derivative at best, the faux-battle
metal blasting of 'Losing Sight' also falling flat on its
primed-for-the-cover-of-Metal Edge face. Even the Swedish
stylings of the intro beginning 'The Darkest Nights' lose
their sense of legitimacy when the rest of the song an obvious
grab for radio play, background vocals joining Lambesis'
potentially aggressive delivery to end up a sad mishmash
of nu-death
cliches. I'm not sure what gave AILD the inspiration for
the solo of 'Empty Hearts', but for a few moments (1:49-2:15),
I begin to understand what a sodomized gerbil must sound
like. Where certain bands - Slayer most notably, and Fear
My Thoughts springing to mind also - can pull of 32nd fret
solos and make it sound good, AILD's guitarists seem so unconcerned
with memorability that anything will do, so long as it's "fast".
It's offensive, to be honest. Even ZAO's Daniel Weyandt can't
pull 'Control Is Dead' out of the mire. I could go song by
song through the rest of the album, but why bother, really?
Suffice it to say that if you liked the past As I
Lay Dying releases, you've probably already got this one. If you were
undecided before, Shadows Are Security will be sure for make
up your mind for you. The problem is, the decision you come
to probably isn't the one As I Lay Dying hoped you would.
www.asilayding.com |
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