''The Powerless Rise'' is the fifth studio album by American

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

band

As I Lay Dying ''As I Lay Dying'' is a 1930 Southern Gothic novel by American author William Faulkner. Faulkner's fifth novel, it is consistently ranked among the best novels of 20th-century literature.The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to Wor ...

. The album was released on May 7, 2010 in Europe, and on May 11, 2010 in the United States. ''The Powerless Rise'' debuted at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200 with sales of 38,000. The album features three singles: "Beyond Our Suffering", "Parallels", and "Anodyne Sea". Music videos have been released for all three, with the latest one ("Beyond Our Suffering") consisting of live footage. The album title is taken from their lyric of the song ("Upside Down Kingdom").

Writing and recording

As I Lay Dying began writing songs for ''The Powerless Rise'' in mid-2009 following two years of touring for the band's 2007 album ''

An Ocean Between Us ''An Ocean Between Us'' is the fourth album by the American metalcore band As I Lay Dying (band), As I Lay Dying, released on August 21, 2007, by Metal Blade Records. It debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, with sales close to ...

''. By the end of September, the group had finished "about 6-7" songs and was scheduled to enter the studio on October 17, 2009 where they would continue to write new songs. This is in contrast to previous albums by As I Lay Dying that had been written over the course of only a few months. The three years between the release of ''An Ocean Between Us'' and ''The Powerless Rise'' previously was the largest gap between releases from the band at that time. Frontman

Tim Lambesis Timothy Peter Lambesis (born November 21, 1980) is an American musician and producer, best known as the founding member and lead vocalist of American metalcore band As I Lay Dying. He also had a solo/side thrash metal project in tribute to act ...

stated that while some bands "need to rush out a crappy record so they can start touring again to pay their bills," As I Lay Dying had been working hard to "make a record worth listening to (hopefully), and start touring again when we're done." ''The Powerless Rise'' was produced by

Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast (band), Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joe ...

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

Adam Dutkiewicz Adam Jonathan Dutkiewicz (born April 4, 1977) is an American musician, recording engineer, songwriter, and music producer, best known as the lead guitarist and backup vocalist from Massachusetts metalcore bands Killswitch Engage, Aftershock, and ...

and Daniel Castelman, and was mixed by

Colin Richardson Colin Richardson is a British record producer, mixer and recording engineer. He has worked on over 100 albums and is most frequently associated with heavy metal and its subgenres. Career Some of the bands he has worked for include: * 3 In ...

and

Martyn Ford Martyn Ford (born 28 April 1944) is an English musician, best known for his orchestral contributions to rock music albums of the 1970s and 1980s. Born in Rugby, Warwickshire,Lebanon, Ford was originally classically trained; he studied French hor ...

. Adam Dutkiewicz also produced As I Lay Dying's ''An Ocean Between Us''. According to guitarist

Phil Sgrosso Phil Sgrosso (born September 16, 1985) is an American heavy metal musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist of the American metalcore band As I Lay Dying, the former rhythm guitarist of the band Wovenwar and the touring lead guitarist for S ...

, Dutkiewicz was chosen over ten other producers the band had talked with after "realizing that Adam understands our sound better than most." Castelman and Richardson were also audio engineers on ''An Ocean Between Us''.

Reception

The record was released in May 2010, to generally positive acclaim. The Powerless Rise currently holds "universal acclaim" status for generally good reviews on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

with an 81 out of 100.

Track listing

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes. As I Lay Dying(2012), Bosso, Joe: https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/interview-as-i-lay-dyings-nick-hipa-talks-new-album-awakened-561421, Retrieved September 19, 2021 *

– lead vocals *

Nick Hipa Samuel Nicholas Hipa (born November 30, 1982) is an American heavy metal guitarist. He has performed with several notable acts. He is the current lead guitarist of Mire, and was the longtime former lead guitarist of As I Lay Dying. Background ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Josh Gilbert – bass, clean vocals *

Jordan Mancino Jordan Mancino (born May 22, 1983) is an American drummer. He has played with several metal acts as the official or as a live member, including As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, and Wovenwar. Mancino, alongside the rest of AILD, have stated th ...

– drums Production *

– production,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Daniel Castleman – engineering, pre-production * Joseph McQueen – vocal engineering *

– mixing * Martyn "Ginge" Ford – mix engineer * Ten Jensen – mastering * Kelly Cairns – pre-production * Joey St. Lucas – guitar tech * Mike Catalano – drum tech, additional percussion *

Jacob Bannon Jacob Bannon (born October 15, 1976) is an American musician who is the vocalist, lyricist and graphic artist for the metalcore band Converge. He is the co-founder and owner of the record label Deathwish Inc. and the author of many visual works ...

– artwork, design

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powerless Rise, The 2010 albums Albums produced by Adam Dutkiewicz Albums with cover art by Jacob Bannon As I Lay Dying (band) albums Metal Blade Records albums