Classic Bands and Why We Love Them: As I Lay Dying

This week’s “Classic Bands and Why We Love Them” contribution is from Chris Davis of Texas In July.

2003, my freshman year of high school, was a pretty awesome year for me as far discovering new bands and music. But one band in particular has stuck with me and made a huge impact on my life every day since. This band is As I Lay Dying.

I had bought the Headbangers Ball compilation CD, which featured many great bands but it was the second-to-last track on this disc that really knocked my socks off and caught my attention. The song was “Forever” by As I Lay Dying, and it was heavy yet melodic and had what I thought that time to be the craziest guitar riffs. I was hooked! I played that song on repeat for a few days, and then bought the album Frail Words Collapse a few day later. My mind was blown, the album was phenomenal front to back. Something fresh that I could connect to and be inspired by. I was hooked on As I Lay Dying.

Fast forward two years to 2005 and AILD released the album Shadows Are Security. This album was not only groundbreaking for the “Metalcore” genre as we know, and established their sound, but completely turned my world upside down. It changed how I thought about music, how I approached writing music and was therapeutic for me in many ways. I also saw them live for the first time, around this time period, and left the show stoked on life! I had never seen a band put on a show with such high energy, and yet play all of their instruments so well and so effortlessly. I knew from that night on, that being in a touring band was what I wanted to do with my life. They gave me the inspiration I needed to fully pursue my dream.

Fast forward once more to today, two albums and a ten year anniversary EP later, AILD released their 5th full length album in September and show no signs of slowing down. AILD has been making and releasing albums for more than twice as long as most bands careers last in this genre it seems. It takes a groundbreaking and inspirational band to have that kind of longevity. Longevity that I think can now classify AILD as a classic band.

TIJ and many of the bands we share the stage with these days owe much thanks to AILD for the music they’ve made, boundaries they’ve broken and inspiration to further expand on the musical styling they helped mold in to what we now know as “Metalcore.” They only continue to inspire me and so many other people around the world with every album they release, and I hope to one day share the stage with them. Thank you Tim, Jordan, Phil, Nick and Josh for the incredible music you have given us over the past 10+ years. You will forever be a classic an legendary band in my heart!