The members of AS I LAY DYING are the kind of musicians that refuse to be measured solely by their most recent accomplishments. The new album, An Ocean Between Us, is evidence of this fact, proving once again that these guys are not afraid to push the limits of their sound and always keep things moving. The music grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the album’s finish. Building upon the foundation that AILD has laid over the past several years, growing from a small San Diego outfit slowly and deliberately into a priority national act, the band has become Metal Blade Records’ biggest sellers with an extremely devoted following. AS I LAY DYING has the goods to take it all the way and stake their claim as the metal band “ you need to know about” in 2007 and beyond.

Messengers, the second record to drop from the minds and hands of Lancaster, PA fivesome August Burns Red is more than just a collection of 11 raging metal songs that ravage the ears of their listeners with technical skill and immense passion. The record is, in fact, not only a musical collaboration, but also a lyrical one, where every member of the band contributed to the lyrical content with their own thoughts, ideas and messages. Hence the record’s intriguing title.

August Burns Red, who initially formed in March of 2003, began this writing process almost immediately after finishing their shattering debut, Thrill Seeker, at the end of 2005, collecting ideas to follow up that disc with something even bigger. The five members of August Burns Red spent the entire year and half they were touring in support of Thrill Seeker penning the songs that landed on Messengers, eventually entering the studio in February 2007 in Nashville with Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Himsa, Dark Tranquility, Extol), with whom the fivesome co-produced the album. The group spent the month refining the tracks into the aggressive, pounding songs you hear on the finished album.

The complexity of August Burns Red’s songwriting is apparent throughout, a clear indication of a band with rabid ambition and a burgeoning talent for crafting tight, compelling songs. Longtime fans fear not, though; Messengers is still the product of the same intense band who continue to blow the minds of everyone lucky enough to witness their memorable live show.