As I Lay Dying
Awakened

If with "The Powerless Rise" the American quintet attempted a slightly more violent musical approach to distance themselves from their melodic side, "Awakened" - the band's latest release - can easily be considered the twin brother of "An Ocean Between Us". This is not necessarily a bad thing, on the contrary.... regardless of the label attached to them (metalcore, thrashcore, christian metal, or otherwise), I consider AS I LAY DYING to be five musicians who know how to do their job well; therefore, I find them much more at ease with this style based on powerful verses and choruses filled with clean vocals performed by Josh Gilbert, who, however, leaves something to be desired in live settings.

Thus, eleven tracks (thirteen if we count the two bonus tracks of the iTunes version) ready to make the listener sing along and engage them from a lyrical perspective thanks to the excellent writing work by Tim (especially "Cauterize," "No Lungs To Breathe," and "Tear Out My Eyes") and there's nothing to complain about with the other musicians; Jordan Mancino is a metronome behind the drums, closely followed by Phil and Nick's guitars.

The band once again alternates thrash metal riffs with more hardcore passages and breakdowns, but the solo work is decent, not so much for the technique but for the repetitiveness; the best tracks on the album are the opener "Cauterize," "A Greater Foundation," "No Lungs To Breathe," and "Tear Out My Eyes" with choruses in pure rock & roll style.
The interlude "Washed Away" is very nice, serving as a prelude to "My Only Home" (a solution already used in An Ocean Between Us where "Departed" opened the way for "Wrath Upon Ourselves").

So, nothing new as already mentioned at the beginning, but it is a homogeneous album that's easy to listen to.