Diogenes Hot damn, it’s amazing how a couple of riffs here and some experimentation there can turn something ordinary into something, um…a little above ordinary. That’s more or less what happened on As I Lay Dying’s fourth album, An Ocean Between Us. The band shows a more mature songwriting style and a willingness to try new things here, which would probably appeal to new fans as well as their…unique fanbase.

Before I go any further, let’s get some things out of the way. This is still a metalcore record, so if you don’t like metalcore, then go ahead and leave now. Also, this is not a total reinvention of the As I Lay Dying sound, as there are still plenty of flaws that plagued this band on earlier records. Namely, the vocals of Tim Lambesis still aren’t anything to write home about, especially the autotuned clean vocals. There are still religious lyrics, so if that’s not your thing, then take a hike. And, there are still those pesky breakdowns, infecting your brain with rotten goo and horridness.

However, if you’re still reading, then you might be happy to know that no combination of the above flaws makes this album unlistenable, as might have been the case for their previous efforts. In fact, this album as a whole is actually decent and enjoyable. Why? Well my friend, I’m glad you asked!

First, the guitar work. Now, the guitarists themselves have never been the weak point in this band, as both Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso wield their instruments with skill and precision. Rather, the problem had been that the guitars were often chugging along with no aim, being used as the forefront of the band’s sound but giving off more of a background effect. An Ocean Between Us puts this firmly in the past, with more guitar harmonies and less pointless noodling in the lead department. Oh, and another thing…listen to Within Destruction. Is that a…? WOAHMYGOD! THRASH! It’s a thrash riff! Yep, on this album As I Lay Dying finally stopped fooling around with half-thrash riffs, and upgraded to, er, full-thrash riffs. Granted, this album isn’t a full-out thrash assault, but there are still plenty of great riffs here. Check the title track, Bury Us All, and Comfort Betrays for more thrashcore fun. To top it off, there are actually a few guitar solos that are, you know, part of the songs. This is opposed to “Gosh, this song is awfully short. Hey, why don’t you throw in some shreddy shreddy here to make it sound cooler?” Cohesion, man. It’s actually there this time.

If you take a look at the tracklist, you’ll probably notice that there is more variation in the track lengths compared to the norm for this band. This is due to more variation in the songwriting area. Nobody wants to hear the same thing 12 times on the same album, and rest assured that won’t be a problem on this one. There’s your standard intro track and an interlude that –surprise!- actually fits in and isn’t totally pointless. Neither of these are needed, of course, but they’re nice to see. There are the thrashy tracks that I pointed out earlier. There’s I Never Wanted, which a slower song that, through the use of layered clean and harsh vocals, doesn’t completely suck in the vocal department. Basically, the deviations that As I Lay Dying incorporated in An Ocean Between Us makes the album a more interesting listen, at the very least.

The album is very well-produced, as you might expect. The guitar tone is amazing once again, thundering through every riff like a freight train at full speed, but everything else sounds good, too. Jordan Mancino’s drums are nice and sharp, leading one to notice his improved technique on this album (excellent double bass work in particular). The bass is, well…you can kind of hear it this time. It still doesn’t add to or take away from the sound, but it’s there, at least.

If you didn’t like As I Lay Dying before, you might want to at least give An Ocean Between Us a shot. It’s not a total 180 from their style, but it’s certainly no generic metalcore album, either. I still can’t call myself a fan, but this album was at least fun to listen to multiple times, and it should be for you, too.

Diogenes As I Lay Dying seems to be one of those bands someone has to either love or hate. All the scene kiddies are like, “AHH this band is soooo br00tal and hardXcore! Heavy metal 4 lyfe!” while the devout metalheads say, “NO this band sucks, they aren’t tr00 metal, metalcore sucks, poser!” Not being a big fan of the genre (or internet arguments), I never really gave them a good listen, as the few songs I had heard weren’t really that memorable. Alas, being the adventurous type, our paths eventually crossed once again, and I felt compelled to listen to this album. Upon further investigation, Diogenes can conclude that Shadows Are Security is totally mediocre and probably not worth a purchase.

My initial fear was that this would be one of those annoying “br00tal” bands with songs composed entirely of breakdowns and stupid gimmicks like “crabcore”. To my relief, this was not the case, as Shadows are Security is indeed a real metal album, with musicians playing actual metal music. Yay! Stage one, pass.

The musicianship on this album is tighter than I expected it to be, although it’s bogged down by middling songwriting. The guitarists are obviously pretty talented, playing some thrashy riffs with decent melodies. There are some dual guitar harmonies, which are a joy to listen to, but those don’t really come up to often. Yes, the guitars sound generic, but they are by far the strongest point of the album, which is good, since the songwriting puts them as the driving force of the album anyway. They are backed by drums that don’t take many adventures and a bass that might as well just not be there at all. Nothing to note here.

Being a metalcore band, As I Lay Dying plays breakdowns. Oh no. Not breakdowns. Anything but those. They aren’t used in excess here (thankfully), but there are enough to make you wonder, “Was that really necessary?” The songs aren’t very long, and they would be even shorter if no breakdowns were used, but c’mon. They’re dumb and unneeded. The album is plenty headbangable without them.

The vocals, frankly, aren’t very good. They’re just your standard metalcore vocals. Honestly, this is probably why a lot of people dismiss As I Lay Dying as being “just another crappy metalcore band”. Most of the time, they stick to an almost-gutteral growl, spitting out incomprehensible Christian lyrics. The cleans, when they make an appearance, are forgettable, with little power (being lower in the mix than the harsh vocals doesn’t help). There are a couple of moments on the album that experiment with a harsh barking a la some death metal bands, and it fits the music a lot better than the gutterals do. I guess my main problem with the vocals on this album is that, like the guitars, they are directionless. Are they trying to be angry? Evil? What? There’s little to no emotion. It’s like the growls are there just because it’s metal and growls sound nice over distorted guitars.

Where Shadows Are Security runs into some big problems is towards the end. It’s at the end, actually. All gripes I had before this one are negligible compared to this. Here’s the dealio: this album is about 43 minutes long. On minute 44 (that would be when the album is over), I was through listening, and…I felt absolutely no reason to listen to it over again. As I had felt when first listening to this band, there was nothing memorable on this album at all. I could remember maybe three riffs, zero solos (understandable, since there aren’t many), and one breakdown, since I was expecting those anyway. That was about it. The only other thing I could remember is how generic the vocals are, and that’s not really a good thing. Refusing to be defeated, I listened to the album again. Still nothing. A third listen yielded the same result. I simply did not want to listen to the album again. Yes, that’s not good.

Not liking metalcore any more or less before listening to Shadows Are Security, I may have exaggerated on the album’s weak points too much. So, here are some build-ups for you! The thrashy guitar work is enhanced by a production that is flattering, to say the least. Even the chugging riffs sound nice and clean. Say what you will, but I love me some clean production, and the guitar tone here is splendid. The songs are easy to listen to (lack of memorability notwithstanding), with most of the intros being catchy enough to hook you and hold your attention for 3 and a half minutes. Because of the guitar-embellishing production and style of playing, Shadows Are Security is definitely good for some embarrassing air guitaring and headbanging. Do not try this at home, kids!

What I hear in Shadows Are Security is a band that is ready to break all of the stereotypes, but for whatever reason is still playing below their potential. The signs are there, sure. There are your thrash and melodic death metal influences, so this might appeal to fans of those genres. And obviously, if you like metalcore, then go pick this up. However, I can’t see this being a treasure for anyone who takes their metal more seriously than “Hey, I’m in the mood for heavy music”. Too generic, too cookie-cutter-ish, too mediocre. If you want this band at its best, try their next album instead.