AS I LAY DYING — Shadows Are Security (review)

AS I LAY DYING — Shadows Are Security album cover

Album · 2005 · Melodic Metalcore

2/5 · 2011-07-25
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.