AS I LAY DYING “Beneath The Encasing of Ashes”
On the particular day that I received this disc in the mail I was in quite a foul mood. Fortunately, AS I LAY DYING proved to be the perfect match with their intricate and highly agreesive style of metalcore. There are a great deal of things on “Beneath the Encasing of Ashes” that make it seem familiar with other bands in this genre, right down to the dark song titles (“A breath in the eyes of eternity”), and brooding artwork, but what sets them a few paces ahead are the absolutely berating sounds of two guitars being played to oblivion. These guys are insanely tight, and very, very forceful, not mention, fairly creative in keeping their songs in a variety of tempos and vocal stylings (none of which strays from being pure metalcore though). A beefier, drum heavy production quality suits this band well, one that is loaded with stellar double-pedal footwork. The only complaint I have with AS I LAY DYING is that the vocals sometimes sound too harsh, especially when the vocalist shows off that he can indeed sing with some good melody (in that awesome eerie kind of way). In any rate, I’ve been rockin’ “Beneath the Encasing of Ashes,” a lot lately, and if this stuff usually makes you content, then do not pass this disc up.
Pluto Records
