Origin: San Diego, California Release year: 2010 Label: Metal Blade Records Genre: Metalcore Every once in a while you come across something that totally blows you away. Stuff that pushes all the right buttons and gives you a wankjob as a bonus. In this case I have no ferkin’ clue why it took me two years to discover The Powerless Rise. I used to listen a lot to As I Lay Dying, I saw them live last year (with Amon Amarth) and I tend to listen to their older shit on YouTube every once in a while. Maybe I did check out a song or two before, might just have been the wrong one.

I shouldn’t call this a full-fledged review. It’s too short, I’m not actually saying much about the album’s content and, moreover, I haven’t listened to the full album. Yet. I have, however, quickly ordered it, based on what I’ve heard. Still calling it a review though, just be aware of its limitations.

The Powerless Rise is AILD’s fifth studio record, released in early 2010. It hit me in the face last week, when I came across the music video for the song Parallels by accident. I’m currently in China and I can only get on YT via VPN, which thus means it’s technically quicker to fly back home to load a video, but of course there’s no budget for that. The fact, then, that I took the time to load the whole bloody video (and trust me, this is a HELLUVA GODDAMN FRUSTRATING process) means the song needed only two or three notes to drill itself into my head.

Since then it took ages before I heard any other track, because of the connection again. It’s just more efficient to press replay than to load another vid. I can grow a beard in the time it takes to load a vid. Anyway, today, I finally thought it’d be a good idea to check out some more of The Powerless Rise. I’ve been frustratingly loading myself through three other songs of the album (Anodyne Sea, The Plague and Anger and Apathy). Mind you, babies get born in the time it takes me to load a video. Anyway, the latter song is alright. The rest took my skin off.

Absolute killer? The Plague! Exactly the right mix of chug, groove, aggression, pummel and face-pounding, which in turn is mixed in exactly the right way with melody, flaming solo-work and Tim Lambesis’ very satisfying vocals.

Where previous AILD albums sounded a bit synthetic to me – something completely due to the amp settings – this one is pure. Perfectly mixed between raw tearing and low thumping.

I don’t care if these guys are Christians. They could be mice or mushrooms or wet towels or something. I don’t give a fuck. If anyone seeks to start that discussion – and on YouTube there are plenty of retards in either direction: “Religion is bullshit. How many gods are there that some faggots made up?” or ”Even in the end times when Jesus returns and everyone sees Him they still will not believe!” – their sound is just irresistible and the rest is irrelevant. (Did I just suck myself into that discussion?)

Anyfuck, As I Lay Dying aces this one! Been a while since I last got hooked with so many songs off one album (and I’ve only heard four of the eleven songs yet)!

My Grade: 9.0/10 (based on what I’ve heard so far)
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Tags: American, death, melodic, metalcore, review

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