The history of California metal band As I Lay Dying is as intense as a heavy metal song, and that’s reflected in the title of the reunited band’s recent album, Shaped by Fire. AILD was founded by lead vocalist Tim Lambesis in 2000, and the band’s most successful lineup came together for the 2007 album An Ocean Between Us, which hit the top 10 of the Billboard album charts and brought AILD’s brand of hard-hitting, fast-paced melodic death metal closer to the mainstream (All Music called it “more sophisticated yet utterly unpretentious”). Although AILD’s music has become a bit more accessible over the years, the band has maintained its brutal, uncompromising vision.
That vision was temporarily interrupted, though, when Lambesis was imprisoned for almost three years starting in 2014. The remaining band members went on to form the more hard rock-oriented band Wovenwar, and it seemed like the rift in AILD would never be mended. But when Lambesis returned, he began the process of reconciliation, and the result is a band that is stronger than ever, with members who have come out on the other side of a harrowing experience. That’s about as metal as it gets.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 6:30 p.m. Nov. 15, $25 plus tax and fee, 18+. 702.632.7600
