Back for more: As I Lay Dying returns with heavy riffs, melodic new music

It has been five years since As I Lay Dying has put out new music.

The wait is over with the band releasing a couple new singles and heading out on tour with a new lineup. The tour makes a stop in Albuquerque at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at El Rey Theater, 622 Central Ave. SW.

Getting back in the studio is frontman Tim Lambesis’ favorite things to do.

“I really enjoy being in the studio creating new music,” he said. “That’s my favorite part about being a musician. I love it.”

Songwriting has changed since Lambesis started the band in 2000. He said he has had the opportunity to work with and learn from incredible producers and engineers over the years.

Lambesis said he enjoyed working with producer Hiram Hernandez on the new untitled album to be released at the end of the year. Hernandez offered constructive criticism that made songs on the album more impactful.

“Some songs, he really reshaped the song, and other songs he just sort of gave his thumbs up to help validate that everything was sounding good from a fresh perspective,” Lambesis said. “But on the songs where he was able to get more involved, I would bring him arrangements or sometimes a handful of riffs that I liked and then say, ‘Hey, I like this song, but this middle part I think could be better,’ and then we would rewrite it together.”

One of the newly released singles, “Burden,” began as an opening riff that guitarist Phil Sgrosso had written some time ago. Lambesis said the song as a whole did not work, but the opening riff stuck with him.

“(Sgrosso) had actually forgotten about it and then I brought back that riff with a new arrangement with our producer and I think it brings some new life into an old idea,” Lambesis explained. “And then the rest of the song took a different direction once we started building off of it from there. So that process was one of the most collaborative songs on the whole album because it started with what Phil had foundationally laid down, but then involved me and Hiram, our producer, as well to round it out. I really feel like it was a great lead single because it showed the team effort.”

Lambesis credits Sgrosso with the instrumental side of the new single, “The Cave We Fear To Enter.” He said he and new bass player, Ryan Neff, had a lot of options on what to do vocally.

“Ryan had a lot of melodic ideas and I felt like this is a good opportunity to showcase him as a new member,” Lambesis said. “A lot of times people kind of go that safe route when they release a single, where they do what the band has always done. And then in this particular case, we have a new member. We might as well show his strong suit. And, he has probably the most melodic song I think we’ve ever had as a single, in terms of just the amount of vocal melodies, but I think it’s a good way to introduce him as a singer.”

Although the current band lineup has played together for a little over three years, its members have known each other for about 20 years.

“There’s a long history and we all saw the rise of this (metalcore) genre as a whole,” Lambesis said. “When I first started As I Lay Dying, I never thought that this genre of music would have an opportunity to make a living or play for large crowds. I just did it because I loved it and so did these guys. We all come from a different era where we just started this music because we loved it. We wanted to do it as long as we could. And then the times changed and it became a practical way to actually make a living, which is a wild thing to think about from a genre of music that’s primarily like a yelling or screaming kind of vocals.”

On its current tour, the band will play a catalog of old and new music.

“In terms of having new material, the five of us have been performing live shows, but playing material that you know predated some of these guys,” Lambesis said. “And now it’s like we’re out on tour playing the historic catalog plus songs that the five of us created together so it’s just an exciting new era for the band.”