History & Biography As I Lay Dying is a white metal thrash/hardcore band from San Diego. Evan White, Tim Lambesis and Jordan Mancino formed the band in February of 2001. The band very quickly released the Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes on Pluto Records and hit the live arena. 2002 brought a split release with American Tragedy and even more shows.
The band signed with Metal Blade in February of 2003 and released Frail Words Collapse in June. The album, which featured newer versions of previously released songs, was recorded at Big Fish Studio and self-produced.
Shadows Are Security was issued in June, 2005 and came with a bonus DVD initially. The band featured two new guitarists here. The album landed in the US charts. The group picked An Ocean Between Us as the title for its 2007 album, which was the follow-up to Shadows Are Security. The band also recruited bassist Josh Gilbert from This Endearing. The An Ocean Between Us album was released on August 21st of 2007 through Metal Blade Records. Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz produced it. Phil Sgrosso played the bass, although Gilbert was a full-time member. Guitarist Nick Hipa was hit in the head in the winter while on stage at Sydney’s Soundwave festival. He did not require stitches. The Americans announced Canadian tour dates with Misery Signals, August Burns Red and label-mates Evergreen Terrace for the spring of 2008. Austrian Death Machine, the side project of Tim Lambesis, released its debut album Total Brutal through Metal Blade Records in the summer of 2008. After seven years of existence the band issued its first full-length DVD in early 2009. This Is Who We Are was comprised of three discs and out April 14. This Is Who We Are was successful enough to enter the Billboard Top Music Videos Chart at the #2 position in the USA and #3 position in Canada. As I Lay Dying was “pleased” to announce the title of its upcoming, fifth full-length album as The Powerless Rise in 2010. The band was finishing recording of The Powerless Rise in San Diego with producer Adam D. who had also worked for popcore band Killswitch Engage. As I Lay Dying was touring North America with Winds Of Plague and After The Burial in tow. The trek would take place over February and March of 2011. Phil Sgrosso released a summer collection for his business, Nomad Clothing, in 2011. Singer Tim Lambesis of San Diego band As I Lay Dying, who was reputed to be a Christian, was arrested in mid-2013 for allegedly hiring someone to kill his estranged wife, Meggan. The 32-year old was taken into custody without incident on Tuesday May 7th. He had pleaded 'not guilty.' By 2014 things had changed and singer Tim Lambesis changed his plea to guilty for hiring someone to kill his estranged wife.
Guitarists Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso, bassist Josh Gilbert and Jordan Mancino (drums) recruited singer Shane Blay (Oh, Sleeper) in 2014 for a new project called Wovenwar. The band completed work on new material with producer Bill Stevenson and hoped to have an album out in 2014. Hipa called the singer a “sociopathic narcissist.” As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis was handed a six-year prison sentence without probation for his intention to have his estranged wife murdered. He had claimed the alienation of his children as a catalyst. The Christian band’s former singer Tim Lambesis was released from prison in December 2016 after serving half of his six-year sentence for conspiracy to have his divorcing wife killed. Lambesis was released in California and transferred to the Division Of Adult Parole Operations. Dokken’s George Lynch whose daughter was formerly engaged to As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa relayed the news. The band regrouped with its singer - who was previously jailed for hiring a hit man to murder his wife. The line-up again was Tim Lambesis (vocals), Phil Sgrosso and Nick Hipa on guitar, Josh Gilbert on bass and Jordan Mancino on drums. No word whether the band would shift from metalcore/white metal/Christian fantasy to death metal now. A Memphis, Tennessee, USA concert venue cancelled the April 2019 concert of As I Lay Dying following several requests and objections given how the band’s singer was convicted of attempted murder of his wife in 2014. Nuclear Blast announced and then removed the posting about a new album by As I Lay Dying called Shaped By Fire in July 2019. The band toured India to begin 2020. As I Lay Dying, Whitechapel and Shadow Of Intent were to embark on the Burn To Emerge tour in May, but alas a pandemic struck. The band was booked for the Rockstadt Fest in 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. As I Lay Dying’s singer Tim Lambesis was recovering at a hospital after sustaining burns to approximately 25% percent of his body at the beginning of 2021. He claimed he was pouring gas to light a fire. Apathian had a single called Micro in 2021. The project belonged to guitarist Phil Sgrosso. Hipa confirmed his 2020 exit in 2021 and explained he does not have it in him to be a part of a “decayed” entity. Bassist/vocalist Josh Gilbert left the band to pursue other music in 2022. The band replaced him with Ryan Neff of Miss May I for the Two Decades Of Destruction US Tour in June and July and European festivals. Jordan Mancino opted to sit out the group’s concerts in the summer of 2022 due to “a number of ongoing internal issues with As I Lay Dying that need to be worked out” since “they have not yet been resolved.” Former Unearth Drummer Nick Pierce was in. The band subsequently fired the drummer. As I Lay Dying, Chelsea Grin and Entheos had a US summer tour beginning July 9 2024. They would give, “major market performances” according to the press release. Killswitch Engage, Slaughter To Prevail, Converge, Machine head, As I Lay Dying, Overkill and others were booked for 2024 New England Metal & Hardcore Fest. The band was booked at Impericon Fest and Jakarta, Indonesia’s Hammersonic 2024 festival and Rampage Summer Festival in Thailand. As I Lay Dying, Caliban, Decapitated and Left To Suffer were to tour Europe in the autumn of 2024. Metalcore act As I Lay Dying was back with a full-length album, entitled Through Storms Ahead, through Napalm Records on 15.11.2024. It was recorded by guitarist Phil Sgrosso and Hiram Hernandez and mixed by Aaron Chaparian. Like all albums those days there were a couple of guest appearances. Early guitarist Jasun Krebs died in 2024. In a new twist, Ryan Neff left the band objecting to. He had joined two years earlier stating he was "honoured" to be there. Then the band's tour manager Alex Kendrick quit putting out a statement, apparently with no irony, saying he won't answer questions about it. Guitarist Ken Susi said his morals were tested and quit next. He too had joined in 2022 years after the murder plot and return of the mastermind of an attempted murder. Drummer Nick Pierce joined the trend. Lambesis would note that guitarist Sgrosso was the first to leave and others had followed. He added, "Phil and I no longer saw eye to personally, creatively, or financially." he vowed to again rebuild the band.
Reviews AS I LAY DYING - FRAIL WORDS COLLAPSE - METAL BLADE
As I Lay Dying is the latest Metal Blade discovery and despite its very young age - two-years old - has already released three records inclusive of its debut for Metal Blade. This might explain why several of the songs on Frail Words Collapse are re-recorded for this release. Regardless, As I Lay Dying is a band that crosses At The Gates with Cataract. The hardcore element is present, but it is largely overshadowed by the thrash metal. The sound, not surprisingly, is harsh and grating with an orientation around the vocals. Also note worthy is the powerful drumming of Jordan Mancino whose snare and double bass work must be commended. In contrast, ironically given the album's title, the lyrics are short and quite abstract. - which rather contradicts my earlier hardcore reference. However, rumour has it that the band is a Christian one which would suggest Metal Blade is practicing the sin of omission by nowhere mentioning the fact. All in all, the band has a lot of aggression to exude and a is a good choice for followers of the above-mentioned sounds. - Ali "The Metallian"
AS I LAY DYING - SHADOWS ARE SECURITY - METAL BLADE
I saw As I Lay Dying once at Montreal's Foufounes Electriques a few years ago. The band was opening for Behemoth and Six Feet Under, and was performing on stage before most of the crowd had arrived. Lead singer Tim Lambesis complained that metal fans were lame, essentially just standing around with their arms crossed. Further to that rant, he moaned that in hometown San Diego they'd have twice the stage space than they occupied that night. In my mind, these comments were counter-productive for two reasons: 1) If you're playing to a predominantly metal audience (which, evidently, Behemoth and Six Feet Under will attract), you don't want to insult potential merchandise consumers; 2) If you're opening a tour, you shouldn't bitch about conditions you're facing on the road and compare them to your home city. Why? Because everyone draws well at home. And everyone has to pay their dues, especially while opening. If you can't deal with it, then don't tour. Of course, in the end, none of this matters... As I Lay Dying's new record, Shadows Are Security, debuted in Billboard's Top 40, and the group's first Metal Blade effort, Frail Words Collapse, sold something like 75,000 copies in the US during 2003/2004. Impressive figures, especially for a by-the-numbers metalcore band like As I Lay Dying. I mean, aside from Frail Word Collapse's first song, 94 Hours, that record didn't offer anything other than mid-tier. I honestly thought As I Lay Dying would end smack in the middle of the pack. For some reason, the Hot Topic kids decided to make As I Lay Dying their cause celebre and, uh, the group is a big seller (with a definite shelf-life, of course). New record Shadows Are Security essentially plays the same card as Frail Words Collapse, but this time As I Lay Dying is trying to convince everyone that this latest effort is a 'true metal release' a la Iron Maiden. It's an obvious effort to create some sort of long-term trajectory, because it seems even the members of As I Lay Dying realise that the clock is currently at 14:59. Shadows Are Security? Nope, more like formula is security. - David Perri
AS I LAY DYING - AN OCEAN BETWEEN US - METALCORE BLADE/KOCH 
To this day, I have to scratch my head and wonder why As I Lay Dying has been so successful. For some reason the band became the poster child for metalcore and ran with it. The band does nothing that would set it apart from the other bands of the style and apparently does not mind the pigeonholing either. In fact, this album is produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Perhaps the Christian masses south of the border banded together to make their brethren successful. If that is true, As I Lay Dying shares its audience with Tammy Wynette.
An Ocean between Us is both more original and more diverse than the group’s previous albums. The originality is not vis-a -vis metalcore and the other bands of the genre. As I Lay Dying has tried to cast aside the obvious Iron Maiden influences. For every brutal moment found on Within Destruction, Bury Us All or Wrath Upon Ourselves the album puts in equal amounts of diversity, layering, atmosphere and so forth to even the score. Most of it is frankly fine as well, except when it comes to the cliched and annoying (as hell) clean vocals. Apparently, the newest member of the band bassist Josh Gilbert has a knack for those gangland teenage metalcore chants.
No one is perfect, except Christ har har, but why As I Lay Dying deliberately seeks imperfection is probably due to this segment of the scene’s not knowing any better. - Anna Tergel
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