For fans of In Flames this album will be a welcome addition to their collections.

American band, but with a Gothenburg sound and style. These guys actually touch on quite a few of the more popular metal styles. You have some thrash mixed with death mixed with a taste of Nu but more like Soilwork's version of Nu. The good kind of Nu if there is such a thing. The rough, almost death growling with some clean vocals formula is at play here! Let me just say I'm glad that death and thrash bands have chosen to add clean, melodic vocals to their sound. It is a welcome change and I hope that it doesn't become cliché. That is a choice that we the listeners have. I, for one, welcome the mix of vocal styles and hope it becomes a standard in harder music. Some of the melodic high singing bands could use some growling to add some new color to the tunes they write. I digress.

As I Lay Dying have achieved a lot already with this release. Song structures are good and interesting. You'll find clean guitar sections but mostly this album is heavy! They are certainly skilled at what they have done on this album. The production and overall sound of the disc is great but the double kick drums somehow stand out above everything else and make it hard to listen or actually hear the other instruments. It's distracting like that awful metallic clang on Lars Ulrich's snare on the newest Metallica album. That is my only beef with the record though. (Sorry Lars........)

This album is dissonant at points and very heavy.....I would go as far as to say extreme metal. The songs are short, rarely going over 4 minutes, much like Soilwork's latest offering. The lyrics are short as far as how many lines they write per song. The lyrical content being of a personal and spiritual nature. The lyrics while sometimes dark are never far from being hopeful. Kinda like life is tough but there is still hope for the good in people to come out. The lyrics are very poetic but not hard to understand......no having to consult your dictionaries!
This is a young band and will no doubt get better as time goes on....you can hear the potential for some cool stuff to happen as they grow.

The highlights or standout tracks are "The Pain Of Separation" and "94 Hours". The only song that doesn't ever seem to get me moving is "The Beginning". Keep a watch cause these guys will make some great albums as evidenced by this debut.

Written by David
Friday, July 18, 2003
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Ratings

David: 7/10

Members: No members have rated this album yet.

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Comment by Trevor (Anonymous) - Monday, August 11, 2003

This is no debut. This is full, mature music that you can not but down. They are a group of genius. Their last two CDs have also blown me away... and you have to see them live or you can't understand the full meaning of the CD

Comment by David The Fat Friar (Anonymous) - Tuesday, September 9, 2003

Hey Trevor, I didn't know this wasn't their debut. I thought it was their first album for Metalblade though. Am I wrong about that? If So, then i do apologize. Reading back over my review i don't see that i put them down really. The bass drums were annoyingly loud but that is a mix problem not the band performance. I would love to hear their last CD,s. What label are they on for those records? The Metalblade release was the only one at the record store. You are an awesome fan to call them genius. They are very talented indeed. I still maintain there is room for growth though. Growth that will put them in the higher ranks of extreme metal bands that have already achieved much more than these guys have so far. Seeing them live would also make a big difference i am sure. Alot of bands are better live than on disc. That doesn't apply here though....they are great on disc so i know they would be good live too. I think if you read our rating system you will see that my rating was very good and that it was rated that way because of the drums being too loud and distracting. They really hurt the music overall. U can't even hear the other instruments at some points. i like them too and consider myself a fan and look forward to what they accomplish in the future. I appreciate your loyalty to them and hope you will give me a little mercy in my assesment of their album. God Bless

Comment by xthrasherx (Anonymous) - Saturday, October 18, 2003

first of all, as i lay dying is not death metal, and the booming bass of his drums is what keeps it alive, and yes the guitars are great and easy to hear, since i figured them out by ear. This is a great hxc band in the scene with sic breakdowns and great singing/screaming..

Comment by RALPH RAY SANCHEZ (Anonymous) - Tuesday, October 21, 2003

ME AND MY JOCK HOMIES FROM MARK KEPPEL HIGH ARE BIG FANZ

Comment by Fat Friar (Anonymous) - Wednesday, November 5, 2003

Hey XthrasherX, read my style listing in the review! Melodic Thrash! not death metal! The guitars are great...but i disagree with you on the bass drums thing...too fucking loud man! and i am a damn drummer and i think that.... whether you figured out the guitar parts or not don't make it any easier to hear them on the album.....in fact my thing was that the drums are distracting not that you can't hear anything else going on...although there are a couple of places that you can't actually hear the other instruments....a big wash of distortion at points! This ain't got a damn thing to do with how good they are....we review albums based on several different aspects and alot of times production will bring an album's rating down a bit.....that is the producer's and mix engineer's fault if something sounds bad....doesn't mean the band isn't talented or the songs are no good! Glad you are a big enough fan to try and defend them against my horrid review! Just remember that the rating was because of production and not them as a band.....they will certainly be on top of the scene of they keep on doing what they are doing....no doubt about that my frequency challenged friend! haha

Comment by Sevin-deim Erixson (Anonymous) - Saturday, November 8, 2003

I purchased this album along with Dimmu Borgir's 'Death Cult Armageddon'. I would probably feel differently about 'Frail Worlds Collapse' were it not for the comparison I am inclined to make between the two. Generally, most of the music sounds the same, and a little too 'Nü' metal for my personal preference. But I can see why some people are enamored with this band. However, I think that this album should be their starting point, not their Pinnacle Triumphant. Best of luck to As I Lay Dying to reaching their full potential, such talent should not be wasted to lack of growth.

Comment by Rafael (Anonymous) - Thursday, March 18, 2004

This is fucking good ! I really liked this band. It`s not very common to see a heavy band with sentimental lirycs. This guys have a great future ahead. Best Songs: Elegy, Forever and Behind me lies another fallen soldier.

Comment by justin (Anonymous) - Saturday, March 20, 2004

I think they are the next maiden . i mean who doesn't like them!?

Comment by Stoney (Anonymous) - Monday, April 26, 2004

if you like As I Lay Dying, cheak out HxC band From The Pawn www.purevolume.com/fromthepawn

Comment by LameSt. (Anonymous) - Saturday, May 29, 2004

What the hell are you doing listening to this if you don't like double bass? How can you even compare this to Lars? I have no words to describe how appaled I am by your ignorance. And your comment regarding clean/death vox becoming a standard, SHIT!, it's been a standard for years now, where the hell have you been? Even EVIL (BOO!!) bands like Dimmu Borgir have clean vox. And how in the world can you compare frail words to Nu Soilwork? That's just depressing. New Soilwork album is crap, just like the Nu In Flames album - just plain commercial crap for Nu-Metel loving Solos-hating idiots raised on shit like Korn and Limp Bizkit. I'm really surprised you know what Gothenburg sound is to begin with. Back to the band... the cd is great, especially for an American band. It has touches of Swedish death metal, like sick solos and insane drums, but the vox and riffs are still metalcore, which, in their case, is not a bad thing at all. It's great to see American bands (AILD, KsE, Agony Scene, Lamb of God) finally raising up to the metal standards set by the European musicians.

Comment by The Fat Friar (Anonymous) - Sunday, May 30, 2004

LameSt. At what point do i say i hate this band...on the contrary i loved it! I love double bass drums as well....but they were mixed to loud in my opinion and that's all it is..an opinion. Odd for me to say that because i am a drummer too. While not quite as bad as the hideous snare on St Anger they are distracting to me....to me....maybe not you...but to me! My comment on clean and gruff vocals relates to it being heard more in popular bands. yeah there are plenty of metal bands doing this clean/dirty thing for years but not that many have been heard to the degree it's being heard now. So that's what I meant. I'm 36 years old and i have been listening to all kinds of metal since i was about 17 or 18 years old....bet that's a dman site longer than you have my friend....so don't think for a second to tell me what i do and don't know. Like the review or not...i could give a flying shit! Keep the personal attacks outta here! Metal is a unifying force not a divisive force...seems to be that most of the video game, Starbucks generation punks forget that!

Comment by ROBERT (ZERO) (Anonymous) - Monday, November 8, 2004

fucking kickass best i ad ever heard all around never got tierd of it and never will they get me so pump up i just lose it

Comment by Robert (zero) (Anonymous) - Monday, November 8, 2004

this band realy gets me going they help me and my friends with our band with the sound wise and how the lyric are so good a big difference between other bands but yeah i thank them and would like to see live