Tim Lambesis pleads not guilty

As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis has pleaded not guilty to one count of solicitation for murder at his arraignment in Vista Superior Court.

The prosecutor argued that Lambesis be held on $20 million bail, citing the musician’s wealth and global connections, but his defense attorney argued that the amount was unreasonable. If he bails out, he was ordered to stay away from his wife and their three children.

Authorities said they learned May 2 that Lambesis was soliciting someone to kill his wife. He was arrested Tuesday at an Oceanside store by sheriff’s investigators.

KTM Staff Albums of the Year List

2012 has came and disappeared as fast it entered and there were great albums to go along with it. We’ve compiled several lists below; enjoy!
Top 10 Albums

Awakening - As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying went what they know for this record and that’s creating straight up metalcore. Circle pit riffs, crushing double bass, powerful vocals and a live experience to back it up. It’s worth noting there’s much clean vocals on this record than previous releases.

Listen to: A Greater Foundation

Get What You Give - The Ghost Inside

One of my favorite hardcore bands (despite Scott Vogel’s irrelevant opinion) in recent years, The Ghost Inside decided to change it up on Get What You Give with clean vocal choruses and some group shouts but still retaining their melodic/breakdown driven song structures

Listen to: Engine 45

The Royal Thousand - Glass Cloud

When I heard two of the members graduated from Berklee College of Music; I immediately became hooked after hearing the first single, “White Flag”. You may know the talented guitarist, Joshua Travis from his old band, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza. His 8 string antics really add dynamics to a genre plagued by Hot Topic kids with swoop haircuts and V-necks. It must really suck to be Of Mice & Men right now.

Listen to: Ivy & Wine

Parkway Drive - Atlas

Australia has some of the best bands (Hands Like Houses, The Amity Affliction, I Killed The Prom Queen) and Parkway Drive are no exception. I’m truly convinced Winston McCall gargles some really fine Australian sand before he does a show because his vocals are some of the best I’ve heard.

Listen to: Old Ghost/New Regrets

Veil of Maya - Eclipse

A lot of people didn’t like this record cause they thought it was basically Periphery with Brandon Butler on vocals since Misha Mansoor co-wrote/produced this album. It’s some of their best work yet with lone guitarist Marc Okubo ripping up the fretboard. Sumeriancore at it’s best, at least until the new After The Burial comes out.

Listen to: Punisher

Whitechapel - Whitechapel

Lamb of God - Resolution

The Chariot - One Wing

Every Time I Die - Ex Lives

Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal

Best New Band

Glass Cloud; they put out of the most impressive debuts for their respective genre.

Best Record Label

Sumerian Records; they have some of the most talented (and not so talented..) bands on their diverse roster.

Best PR/Publicist

George Vallee - Sumerian Records

PR people don’t get the recognition they deserve. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to cover shows and interview bands

Most Anticipated of 2013

Animals As Leaders
Austrian Death Machine
Born of Osiris
A Day to Remember
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Brand New
My Chemical Romance
Slipknot

___________________

The following list is from fellow contributor, Emily Bunn

Best Album: Deftones “Koi No Yokan”

The guys of Deftones did not disappoint with their follow up to 2010’s “Diamond Eyes”. “Koi No Yokan” fits right in with the sound that the Deftones made their own with “White Pony” and their self-titled. This album embodies everything I love about Deftones and I couldn’t be more happy with the album.

Best Tour: Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends 10 Year Anniversary Tour

I was only 11 years old when I first heard “You’re So Last Summer” From Tell All your Friends. This was the first album I ever bought with my own money and the first album I ever obsessed over. It’s still one of my favorite albums. To see the band perform it live from beginning to end was indescribable. The 11-year-old in me was beyond ecstatic.

Best New Band: Dead Sara

Dead Sara have had a huge year with the release of their first full length, acting as tour support for some big names, and taking part in the Vans Warped Tour over the summer. Their sound is not what you have come to expect with a female-fronted band, but it’s pure rock’n’roll.

Best Record Label: Sumerian Records

The people at Sumerian handled the Falling in Reverse/I See Stars debacle really well. They stood up for I See Stars and supported them throughout the situation and were quick to support the band’s statements on the whole issue. It’s always great when a label thoroughly supports their artists in tough situations like this.

Most Anticipated of 2013: Bring Me the Horizon

If “Shadow Moses” is anything to go by, the new BMTH album is going to be one of the best albums of 2013. Their last release leaves big shoes to fill, but from the little information the band has released about the new album it’s sure to live up to the expectations.

Song of the Year: Enter Shikari “Arguing with Thermometers"

Enter Shikari’s latest album is amazing from beginning to end, but “Arguing with Thermometers” has to be my favorite track. Not only is it a banger of a song, but the lyrics send a strong message about how corrupt our society has become and the effect we are having on our environment. The world needs more songs like this.

Artist of the Year: Pierce the Veil

Pierce the Veil played the main stage at the Vans Warped Tour, released their newest album “Collide With The Sky”, and sold out almost all of the dates on their headlining tour of the same name in 2012. They’ve proved that they are a forced to be reckoned with and they’re not going anywhere. I can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for the quartet.

Review: As I Lay Dying - Awakened

Metal is such a saturated genre lately, with so many subgenres and bands just rising out of the ground to try and claim their fifteen minutes of fame. With so many bands I find myself questioning how some of the older bands that started their careers in the early 90s and 2000s are still doing. My question seemingly has already been answered for me, with As I Lay Dying’s newest album, Awakened. Being an already well known and established band, the question is; how does their new release fare?

The intro track of any album usually does two things. One, it will set up the mood for an album and two, it will set up your expectations of an album, what you should expect out of the rest of it. Cauterize tells me two things about this album. It tells me that this album follows through with aggressive and powerful tones and excellent sounding metal riffs, great vocals, and plenty of solos. Tim Lambesis shines through as usual, delivering powerful heavy hitting vocals, along with Josh Gilbert providing equally powerful clean vocals on  every track on the album. Lyrically the content is as powerful as ever, many tracks providing memorable choruses by Josh and verses by Tim, heard in many tracks. Tim deserves accolades  for being one of the more  ”understandable” vocalists in the metal genres, pronunciating his lyrics clearly.

My favorite tracks of this record are Cauterize, Defender (a powerful track both vocally and lyrically, offering positive inspiration), and Overcome (the intro solo to the song is simply beautiful), but really every track is good on this record. That in itself while initially being a positive aspect, also lends to the fact that there isn’t a huge deviation in sound between tracks. They’ve stayed relatively true to their previous styles and sound, with some songs incorporating heavier metalcore and thrash metal influenced riff work. As stated previously there is a lack of experimentation within their last few albums that they’ve release and that is also true for this one. While it never hurts to stick to your established sound, it also never hurts to stray the path and try something somewhat different.

There’s not much more I could briefly say about this album without going into a detailed track by track review, so please excuse this rather short review.. Awakened is a strong album, well produced, well written and well sounding. Fans of As I Lay Dying  will love it, fans of metal and its subgenres will enjoy it, concert goers and moshers will love it played live (there are plenty of moments in this album for moshers to just let loose). This album in my eyes is a true example of Modern American Metal. Pick it up when it drops  September 25, 2012.

-Christian

Pre-Orders Available for As I Lay Dying's "Awakened"

It’s time to be awakened.

The Grammy-nominated rock group AS I LAY DYING will release their sixth album, AWAKENED, September 25 on Metal Blade. Pre-orders are available today, August 20, via: http://www.metalblade.com/asilaydying/. After wrapping a successful run as a main stage act on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival with Slipknot, Slayer and more, the group will headline a special album release show-full details to be announced soon. On October 15, they’ll launch a European tour with Trivium, Caliban and Upon A Burning Body before returning to the U.S. in November for a nationwide tour.

AS I LAY DYING just completed a video for the new single “A Greater Foundation.” The rock group teamed with director Drew Russ (A Day To Remember, Falling In Reverse) and producer Robby Starbuckfor the performance-based clip which was shot on location in Los Angeles. "We were all impressed with Drew’s ability to capture the intensity of live band performances in his videos, and ‘A Greater Foundation’ is no exception, explains bassist JOSH GILBERT. “ Drew’s technique, along with the all-day participation of some of our diehard fans in Los Angeles, definitely accentuated the energy of the song and makes for an exciting and dynamic video. We can’t wait to unveil it!”

For AWAKENED, the San Diego-basedband–NICK HIPA (guitar), TIM LAMBESIS (vocals), JORDAN MANCINO (drums), PHIL SGROSSO (guitar) and JOSH GILBERT (bass)–holed up in the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO with renowned rock producer Bill Stevenson (Descendents) and mixer Colin Richardson. AWAKENED marks the follow-up to the Decas EP (2011) which reached # 2 on the iTunes Rock Chart. The group’s last LP, 2010′simmensely successful The Powerless Rise, debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #10. The Powerless Risealso reached #2 on Billboard’s Independent Albums Chart and #3 on Billboard’s Hard Music Albums Chart.

As I Lay Dying post new song, "Cauterize" for free download

Download a new As I Lay Dying song entitled “Cauterize” here. The band’s new album, Awakened, is due out on September 25th via Metal Blade Records.