So apparently Tim Lambesis has been out of jail for some time after serving the sentence he got for paying a hitman/undercover cop to kill his wife (you seriously can't make this shit up). And apparently he has been forgiven by his former bandmates in As I Lay Dying. The band has reunited and just released a new single:



It would be awesome if we could refrain from making jokes about the singers tits and instead discuss the new single, this unexpected reunion and the band in general. I for one have always had a soft spot for As I Lay Dying and it's easily my favorite band of the genre. While the band pretty much sucked before Shadows Are Security they released three awesome albums in An Ocean Between Us, The Powerless Rise and Awakened. The new single is alright and Josh Gilberts cleans are amazing as always but I hope the band dares to be heavier on the upcoming album.

While I think everybody deserves a second chance it would be nice to hear the band (who slammed Tim pretty hard in the press) explain why they decided to forgive the frontman. Also I hope someone makes a comedy movie out of all of this (since his ex wife is ok I think it's fine to laugh a bit about the stupidity of it all). Seriously guys, never do steroids

So that's my two cents. What do you guys think about all this shit?

We don't need to hear an explanation. It's obvious their other band tanked and they whorishly ran back to an established brand to collaborate with a murderer.

Honestly I find the song surprisingly good, energetic and catchy. I don't know how i feel about Tim being back in the band and making music to be honest. I do think people deserve a second chance, that being said what Tim did was pretty awful, and I have a feeling a lot of people will be hesitant to forgive him for it, especially in the online commentary.

ToB, Tim never actually murdered somebody did he?

The new single starts off strong. However it quickly slides back into the same old same old. What we have come to know from AILD. The ending wad quite lack luster and derivative. Vocals sound great from both guys.

Yeah, definitely some un answered questions here. Never thought id see them all re unite. I have mixed feelings about this. I dont know if personally i am ok with listening to anything involving Lambesis any more. This was seriously one of the most odd and fucked up stories in metal. I guess we will have to see how this all unfolds.

AILD really hit a stride with their last 3 albums. When it comes to more main stream modern metalcore they quickly rose to the top amongst other bands like KSE, Unearth, etc. Its really just a weird, weird turn of events. I feel like we need to see some press, or a mini documentary, or something. Not even just from the band but Brian Slagel and or metal blade as well. At one point Metal blade even had all of AILD's albums and merch being sold at discount bin price level at most. At one point it really appeared that everyone had turned their backs on the band and their legacy. Again, just weird. Time will tell i guess.

Never heard them before. Lasted one minute. Terrible fucking core music made by morally bankrupt losers from what I read in here.

Embarrassing as it is to admit, As I Lay Dying are one of my favorite bands and have been since high school. Yeah, you can throw around the "metalcore" tag like that automatically implies it's shit, but to me they were easily one of the best bands in the genre. Shadows Are Security is packed full of melodic death metal riffs that are just as good, if not better, than what most actual melodeath bands were putting out at the time.

Putting all the drama of the last few years aside, this new song is really good. It reminds me most of Awakened, but it seems a bit more developed than the songs on that album.

In terms of the good, that verse riff is pure AILD, melodic but maintaining that slightly 'technical' flair that occasionally cropped on Awakened. Tim's vocals sound great, maybe a little higher than before, and his rapid-fire delivery during the verses is great. I love the ending breakdown, and there's a lot of little things thrown in throughout (the slightly different iteration of the second chorus, for example) that prevent it from feeling formulaic. That chorus is pretty nice too.

Unfortunately I think they repeat the chorus too much, and I could have done without the third iteration altogether. Other than the solo and the verse riff I mentioned there aren't a lot of notable guitar parts in the song either, which is probably something to do with the compressed production which "muddies" the sound a bit more than their other stuff. Listening to an instrumental cover of the song, there's actually a pretty nice melody behind the chorus that's almost entirely drowned out in the regular song. Likewise there's a lot going on in the song, and the tendency to always throw in an extra scream or pause here and there makes it sound just a tad messy.

In all, however, the good far outweighs the bad, and my complaints are really nitpicks. If this song were on their last album, it would easily be one of the highlights. Overall this is a great first glance at their new album and I'm really excited to hear the whole thing.

Oddeye, please stop ruining my theory that only Northern American metalheads listen to metalcore.

this band was always mediocre. with that said i listened to the song, it exists, sounds like kse. is metalcore even still popular? lol.

I actually really enjoyed that. Feels like a mix between Powerless Rise and Awakened. I never got into Wovenwar or the early AILD (pre Shadows) but I definitely like their 4-album run before the lock up.

The thing that bugs me is that these guys came running right back to AILD considering the things they said when he was arrested and convicted. I read Lambesis's stuff on the hitman hiring and fallout from AILD and it the entire thing felt off. Plus, he had a lot of disdain built up. His fellow bandmates must be really forgiving, if only for that sweet money.

I believe Sweden genuinely makes an exception there. Sometimes even non-Swedish people who are in close dealings with Swedes. But they tend to be a bit more wary to admit it.

so I'd never heard this band before but more and more lately I'm coming to the conclusion that what you guys would call "meathead shit" (like this and five finger death punch etc) is actually the music of my people. I'm kinda borderline white trash or some shit and this makes me want to slam beers

I was really hoping the song would suck so I could just write them off and not worry about it, but god dammit this is one of the best songs they've put out since the days of An Ocean Between Us, the big stupid fluke that it is. The part where the band drops out near the end is stupidly cliche and I could really do without it but everything else was very good, and it kinda pisses me off that that's the case.

I decided long ago that my morals simply aren't as strong as my love of music back when I realized that I just couldn't pretend to not love Arghoslent, but even then this reunion is super conflicting to me. The other dudes in the band were quite vocal about what they thought of Tim after it all went down, and from what I'm told the only one to show up during the court proceedings was the guitarist, and that was entirely so he could sit next to the potential victim as a combined show of support to her (everything I've read suggests that everybody in the band liked her a lot and were really good friends with her) and as a symbolic middle finger to Tim. He's always been a massive crybaby who is really, really bad about not getting his way (see: blaming all of his problems on steroids when the more obvious answer (by his own words) was that he lost his faith and then went overboard in the opposite direction and sinned as much as possible since he wasn't afraid of Hell anymore, trying to have his ex-wife killed when said hedonism pushed her away, taking time out of Austrian Death Machine songs to bitch in first person about how the project is only a joke and he wrote all the songs in an hour so if you don't like it you can shut the hell up for being a humorless bore but also it's totally better than most bands so suck on my ineffable genius) and I think everybody was fed up with him already and the hitman fiasco was the last straw that showed his true colors. If I'm being honest though, I thought his prison interview was genuine. He did honestly seem like he knew he fucked up and was prepared to face his punishment and atone for what he did. He did an awful lot of sociopathic roundabout blame shifting with blaming the steroids, constantly rationalizing all the way until he was sentenced that he did nothing wrong because he was "just talking to the guy to see where it goes", and accusing the band of purely seeing him as a meal ticket and being fake friends because they didn't support him after he tried to have their friend murdered, but it did seem like the sentencing sobered him up. Whether or not he ever deserved that second chance is up to you (I'm not as forgiving as his old bandmates apparently), but for what it's worth it seemed like he finally saw things in the cold light of day and wanted to repent when he finally had to face the consequences.

HOWEVER, fucking nobody listened to Wovenwar. They sucked, it was clear that the one with any songwriting talent was the guy who just went to prison and was unceremoniously spat on by his old band. I've got a buddy who is really into the christian metalcore scene and even he couldn't bother to listen to more than a track or two despite it being a combination of his two favorite bands. I think the whole band reuniting so easily shows that they really do see him as a meal ticket, because their careers where effectively over before this. It shows that AILD is more of a brand than a band. Nobody cared when they continued on with a different name, and once they came back it seems like throngs of old fans were just so happy to get AILD back that they no longer gave a shit that Tim tried to have his wife murdered. I can guarantee you that Tim could've just hired four new dudes and this song would have been released completely unchanged and everybody would still be pumped just to have "the band" back. My buddy says that yeah, the scene as a whole has welcomed them back with open arms entirely, which you could spin a few ways. Either they're true Christians who believe that only God can judge and therefore it's not up to them to say whether or not he's a bad person, they're just so relieved to finally have a good band in the scene again that they'll turn their back on their morals to welcome AILD back since all the other previously good bands have been terrible lately, or, ya know, the old stereotype that Christians in general are just massive hypocrites and don't actually give a shit about moral superiority unless it benefits them. Take your pick.

Either way, despite the fact that I think this is a good song, there's no denying that the fact that he ultimately got off with no real punishment (only served half his sentence, got a sweet book deal out of it iirc, and got the band back together in extremely short order to the sounds of extreme fanfare plus a bunch of free publicity by pushing the redemption angle) reeeeeaaaaally leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can only imagine how the ex-wife must be feeling right now.

Copy+paste BastardHead's post.

This really did shock me. I thought there'd be no way his old band members would take him back. Particularly Nick Hipa, who has been very vocal in his contempt for Lambesis.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/as-i-l ... ilitation/

What next? Queensryche ditching Todd la Torre and rehiring Geoff Tate?



You do you, my friend. I hear the new Insane Clown Posse is pretty good.

I tried it against my better judgement, its as terrible as I recall. They should still change their name as the only As I Lay Dying worth remembering is from Austria.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AMKnlHsiAJQ

More obscure doesn't mean better.

It does in this case...can't speak for that demo as I've never heard it, but they were originally called Visceral Evisceration and their debut (and only) album under that name "Incessant Desire for Palatable Flesh" is an fucking godlike work of art, one of the greatest death-doom albums ever released as far as I'm concerned.

My arm is not long enough for the jerk-off motion that exists in my soul whenever a metalhead needlessly namedrops obscure bands as a diss towards more popular bands with the same name (this happened often with Slipknot back in the day for example). Spouting off obscure bands and putting them on the same pedestal as classics just to show off is annoying too but marginally less so.

We get it, the "real" As I Lay Dying is a remnant clinger to a long forgotten underground cult classic that produced a whopping one demo tape limited to fifty copies 23 years ago. We're all very impressed. Let's stay on topic now.

Hahaha, no kidding. I thought people stopped doing this in like 2009.

Byrain I find what you posted to be leagues more enjoyable than jockcore AILD as well. Figured I'd mention it since you're being attacked lol.

I mean the thought process works with the name Incubus so...

With all due honesty I name dropped As I Lay Dying because they are a good band, not because they are an obscure band. Some people may of not heard of them and may also find it far more enjoyable than the crap in the op. I still listen to the full length album under the name Visceral Evisceration regularly and there is not much other death doom quite that good.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dgALTCvqZ4E

I was pretty excited about this and the song is good old fashioned AILD unfortunately with the shitty clean vocals and all. Musically it's strong as expected, but the production is weaker than I would have liked, kinda hard to make out the guitars underneath all the vocs. Still looking forward to the album.

Oh come now. If you're Australian white trash, the band you're supposed to identify with is Sadistik Exekution.

Tell me this isn't how you guys talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qETYenbPNg

It's been brought up in other threads but it's worth repeating: the only reason this is coming up is because it's fun to hate on metalcore and Christian hypocrisy. There was exactly zero debate or confused feelings in the metal community when Faust, an actual murderer, rejoined Emperor. I'm not saying either route is an easy choice, and I still don't know where I personally stand on forgiveness after horrible crimes have been repented with time served, but it's still mind-boggling to see people who support Emperor, Burzum, etc. talk shit about AILD for this move.

This dirtbag deserves every joke about his tits he gets.

As long as don't sin against metal you can be a homophobic murderer and its all good. Horns up!

StoplikingwhatIdontlike.jpg



On topic, I'm not at all surprised the other guys whored out and went with it. The money's gotta be better than that no-name band they made in the meanwhile. I actually made the mistake of buying that debut album

I don't mind giving people a second chance but the fact that the other band members publically spoke out against their vocalist and claimed they wouldn't want to work with him anymore and now made a one hundred eighty degree turn is something I dislike. It's a serious lack of integrity. Concerning the band, I've listened to a few songs in the past but it isn't my cup of tea.

It's actually more fun to hate on Metalcore than anything.

ah sad ex is too underground - most aussie bog-standard metalheads are into stuff with big phat riffs and lyrics about how you don't know me motherfucker, and sad ex just isn't that catchy

The band have said they plan to release a statement later this week.

https://www.theprp.com/2018/06/11/news/ ... ress-them/

Ah, Lambesis is back and at it again, yelling at the same sounding guitar and never topping "Confined". I wasn't really all too particular on the band but this latest song does sound like they just picked right back up from "The Powerless Rise" again, unfortunately needing to shed that "we're Christian but we also rock" attitude that beefed up a few rural record sales.

He'll always remind me of my favorite Biblical passage: Douche: 16:20-22 "Thus Jesus spake unto the gym rats, whenst thy roids runneth out and the rage begins building, the dilution of metal and delusion of iron pumping, thou mayest hire a hit man to clip yo bitch."

Predictions: the words "forgiveness", "redemption", and "reconciliation" will be appear in this statement. God will get a shout-out, too.

They will not mention his wife, his legal situation, their old band, or money in any way.

Apparently instead of releasing a written statement, they released a video of them having a conversation about it for 30 minutes. I don't have time to watch it now but will check it out later.

https://www.theprp.com/2018/06/16/news/ ... to-return/

Honestly, I have not been invested in this band in about ten years. They were a gateway band for me back in the day, but by the time this lawsuit and controversy occurred, I had already moved on from this band (I do still enjoy the Austrian Death Machine stuff, however, and put it on every now and then for kicks). That said, I can't help but find this story interesting. I read the interview with Tim before his sentencing, and watching peoples' reaction to their comeback is pretty entertaining. I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts on their justification of bringing back the band under the AILD name, and if you think it seems genuine. I'll weigh in as well once I get the chance to watch it.

They should invite his wife to take part in this discussion. Tim did try to murder her, after all.

So speaking as a non metalcore fan, should I listen to AILD if I like some stuff from Unearth? Really like them for some reason.

unearth was one of the better ones, so probably not.

If you like Unearth check out Shadows Are Security and The Powerless Rise, if you don't like those you probably won't like much else in their catalog. I would say those are their two most 'metal' albums in general.

I watched the discussion video and I was surprised at how honest the guys were, especially the guys on the left. They really put all of their feelings out there about Tim and the situation over the years. After watching that, I believe that they saw a change in him after he got out, but it's still hard to believe that money was not involved somehow. Also, they didn't really address whether or not they are still a christian band... the reason I wonder about that is because in that interview that Tim did right before his sentencing, he said that he became an atheist. I think there's still quite a few questions for them to answer but this at least explains how they started working together again.

As long as you're nostalgic for that early 2000s sound, then yes. The Oncoming Storm and Frail Words Collapse were probably the main two albums that got me into heavy music.