Rarely has an album lived up to its name, and As I Lay Dying learned from it.
Scheduled for release on Napalm Records in 2024, Through Storms Ahead is the eighth album from the band led by vocalist Tim Lambesis (Austrian Death Machine, Born Through Fire), who recently saw the departure of the four musicians who accompanied him – Ryan Neff (bass, Miss May I), Ken Susi (guitar, ex-Unearth), Nick Pierce (drums, ex-Unearth, ex-TheFaceless) and Phil Sgrosso (guitar, ex-Wovenwar) – even before the album’s release, resulting in the cancellation of the European tour intended to promote it.
It’s even stranger to think that the album opens with Permanence, a melodious introduction that leads into A Broken Reflection, the first real track to showcase the band’s hustle. Between the high tempo, the Old School roots, the alternation between Tim‘s screams and Ryan‘s intense clean vocals, all the elements are there to make this track a real block of pure efficiency. The break also looks promising, as does the final moshpart before Burden descends upon us, repeating the performance with similar elements, as much in the aggression as in the melodic choruses. The sound takes on a whole new dimension when Tom Barber (Chelsea Grin, ex-Lorna Shore) and Alex Terrible (Slaughter To Prevail) join the band for We Are The Dead, which is undoubtedly one of the most energetic tracks in the band’s discography, and continues with Whitewashed Tomb. The introduction gives us a breath of fresh air, but we’re soon back to violence, as we are with the eponymous Through Storms Ahead, which features complex but heady tapping parts. The chorus once again brings the atmosphere down, with a mix of voices. Calm returns at times with The Void Within, but the track is also very brutal, creating a real divide between the two atmospheres before joining Strength To Survive, which adopts an even greater contrast, sounding like a confrontation between the two voices, leaving the other instruments to orchestrate the duel. Gears That Never Stop picks up immediately, once again taking an aggressive approach with its jerky riffs and Tim‘s vociferations, softened by the clear refrains, followed by The Cave We Fear To Enter, which offers calmer touches from the outset, which are found throughout the track despite the ferocity of certain parts, transforming it into a catchy anthem. The same explosive vigor is found on Taken From Nothing, but once again the clean vocals are there to temporize it from time to time, closing the album with elements that come as little surprise, but still prove their worth.
Despite being a big name in Metalcore, As I Lay Dying still find themselves confronted with problematic situations, not least when it comes to their line-up. Nevertheless, Through Storms Ahead is a good album that will satisfy fans, provided the band manage to play it live.
80/100