The Powerless Rise

''The Powerless Rise'' is the fifth studio album by American metalcore band As I Lay Dying. 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").

Background

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''. In early September the band shared that they had "been home hard at work writing new songs for an album that will be out in early-2010." 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 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 band officially announced the title of the album in February of 2010. In March of 2010, the album artwork for the record, again provided by Jacob Bannon, was shared by MetalBlade Records.

The band presented the album in a number of different pre-order bundles, including a CD plus an autographed booklet and a t-shirt, and also a deluxe fan box which allowed fans to receive the album prior to its official release.

On April 8 the band played the song "Beyond Our Suffering" live for the first time, at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Music Awards.

On May 7 the band made the entirety of the album temporarily available for streaming on their MySpace profile.

Several music videos were produced for songs on the album. The band debuted a video for the track "Parallels" July 11, 2010. The video was directed by Dave Brodsky. A music video for the song "Anodyne Sea," directed by Ian McFarland and Mike Pecci, was released in January of 2011. A live music video for the track "Beyond Our Suffering" was released in May 2011. The video was filmed by the band's friend Joe Hamming on July 14, 2010 in Orlando, Florida while the band was on the "Cool Tour."

''The Powerless Rise'' was produced by Killswitch Engage lead guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and Daniel Castelman, and was mixed by Colin Richardson and Martyn Ford. Adam Dutkiewicz also produced As I Lay Dying's ''An Ocean Between Us''. According to guitarist Phil Sgrosso, 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''.

The album's first single "Beyond Our Suffering" was made available for fans to play and download for free in the game " Tap Tap Revenge 3."

Reception

''The Powerless Rise'' was released in May 2010 to generally positive acclaim. It currently holds "universal acclaim" status for generally good reviews on Metacritic 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
* Tim Lambesis – harsh vocals
* Nick Hipa – guitar, backing vocals
* Phil Sgrosso – guitar, backing vocals
* Josh Gilbert – bass, sung vocals
* Jordan Mancino – drums

Production
* Adam Dutkiewicz – production, engineering
* Daniel Castleman – engineering, pre-production
* Joseph McQueen – vocal engineering
* Colin Richardson – mixing
* Martyn "Ginge" Ford – mix engineering
* Ted Jensen – mastering
* Kelly Cairns – pre-production
* Joey St. Lucas – guitar tech
* Mike Catalano – drum tech, additional percussion
* Jacob Bannon – 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