AS I LAY DYING Completes Recording Ninth Album; New Songs 'Polarized' And 'Retribution' To Arrive Next Week

U.S. metalcore veterans AS I LAY DYING have completed recording their ninth studio album, tentatively due in early 2027 via Napalm Records. Two of the songs which are being considered for inclusion on the follow-up to 2024's "Through Storms Ahead" LP, "Polarized" and "Retribution", will be made available on Tuesday, September 15.

Earlier today (Tuesday, September 8),AS I LAY DYING vocalist Tim Lambesis released a video message in which he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "So we finally finished recording the new AS I LAY DYING album, and we did 12 songs with the intention of keeping 10. We've had a lot of conversations amongst us trying to figure out what those 10 songs are, and we figured we should bring you guys in on the conversation.

"So, we're gonna show you little clips of two songs coming up called 'Polarized' and 'Retribution'," he continued. "Over the next week, we'll sort of introduce these songs, and then on September 15th, we'll have both those songs come out fully, and we'll open up some voting for you guys to tell us, do these polarizing two different ends of the album both belong on the AS I LAY DYING album?

"'Polarized' is quite a bit more melodic, mid-tempo, a little bit more singing, but still very heavy and driving. And then 'Retribution' is just fast, dark and heavy, no singing at all whatsoever," Tim explained. "So those are the two ends of the spectrum. We figured we'd start there, see what you guys thought, and most of the rest of the record lives somewhere in between. But we wanna bring you guys in to just give us your feedback so we can make these final decisions together."

Last year, AS I LAY DYING released two new singles, "Echoes" and "If I Fall".

Earlier this year, AS I LAY DYING completed the 2026 leg of its Russian tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's breakthrough album "Shadows Are Security". The U.S. metalcore veterans first launched the anniversary tour in Russia last fall, despite many Western artists continuing to steer clear of playing shows in the country amid ongoing international tensions tied to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Asked in a Russian interview if AS I LAY DYING fans can expect to hear more of a "Shadows Are Security" vibe in some of the new songs, considering that they spent so much time performing material from that record on their recent tour, Tim said: "One of the songs I wrote early on in the process that I was sending to [AS I LAY DYING bassist/clean vocalist] Chris [Clancy] spoke to, we gave the demo the title of 'Throwback' because it felt very much like it belonged on the 'Shadows Are Security' record. It's a little bit more maybe pushed in [a] modern [direction] because I think the genre has become more technical at the time. But it fits really well. And we say, 'Okay, we'll just have one or two that are like this, and then let's explore.' Because [Chris is] writing songs from his perspective, and I'm writing from — I'm, like, the old guy, right? So we can't expect the two of us to write exactly the same."

Chris added: "But I remember when [Tim] sent me that demo and he said, 'Oh, it might be a bit too old school.' And I hit play. And it just gave me this [feeling of] nostalgia, like, 'I haven't heard anything like this in 20 years.' It just had this whole thing — it captured you. And this makes no sense at all without hearing the song, but you didn't really think about it as a single and doing this, that and the other. It's, like, he just wrote the song as it wanted to be, and it was great."

"Echoes" and "If I Fall" marked the debut of AS I LAY DYING's new lineup, bringing together seasoned talent and fresh energy:

Tim Lambesis - Vocals
Chris Clancy - Bass, Clean Vocals
Bill Hudson - Guitar
Don Vedda - Guitar
Tim Yeung - Drums

Lambesis previously commented: "As the only primary songwriter on every AS I LAY DYING album, I'm always going to a find a path forward for this catalog of music that I'm so passionate about. But sometimes things come together even better than expected. I'm incredibly grateful for my new bandmates. In addition to being incredibly talented, they genuinely care about my well being and the band we are now all a part of."

This new formation infuses the band with renewed vitality and artistic momentum. Each member brings a unique voice and refined musicianship, helping to craft a sound that's both familiar and forward-thinking, rooted in legacy, but boldly reaching into new territory.

Over the past eight years, AS I LAY DYING has gone through a series of lineup changes that have left Lambesis as the only remaining founding member.

In late 2024, four members of AS I LAY DYING separately announced that they were leaving the band: longtime guitarist Phil Sgrosso, drummer Nick Pierce, guitarist Ken Susi and bassist/vocalist Ryan Neff.

Sgrosso announced his departure from AS I LAY DYING on October 30, 2024. His exit came just six days after Pierce and Susi left the group, and 12 days after Neff said he was also leaving the band.

AS I LAY DYING's 2024 European tour, "Through Storms Ahead", which was scheduled to kick off on November 15, 2024 in Würzburg, Germany, was eventually canceled.

In January 2025, home security camera footage was leaked in which Lambesis was seen appearing to hit and kick his own dog out of frustration.

In November 2024, a series of videos were leaked that showed Lambesis having violent outbursts while around his third wife in their home. Lambesis later released a statement saying he had filed a restraining order against his wife and accusing her of subjecting him to physical and mental abuse for three years.

Last December, after Tim's third wife gave an interview in which she revisited allegations of abuse she had previously made against Lambesis, Tim issued another statement suggesting that claims against him resurface only when his career regains momentum.

"I stayed quiet about my personal life because it wasn't relevant to the work," Lambesis wrote. "I'm only speaking now because the same pattern keeps repeating. Old stories resurface only when my life and career move forward again."

He went on to say: "I'm not interested in drama or attention. The music either stands on its own or it doesn't," adding that "if anything illegal had happened in the years since, it would have been addressed through proper channels."

Lambesis was famously convicted in 2014 for his role in a murder-for-hire plot against his estranged first wife.

In May 2014, Lambesis was sentenced to six years in jail after pleading guilty to paying a San Diego police officer posing as a hitman $1,000 to kill his wife. Approximately two and a half years later — on December 17, 2016 — he was discharged from a California detention facility and was transferred to the Division of Adult Parole Operations.

In April 2025, Susi claimed during an appearance on the "BREWtally Speaking" podcast that Lambesis used his incarceration to formulate "this almost-reality TV persona for his fanbase of him portraying himself as his man of redemption or rehabilitation."

In June 2018, AS I LAY DYING played its first show with Lambesis in five years and released a new single. Lambesis also owned up to his crimes in a long apology on the band's Facebook page after his release.

The return of AS I LAY DYING raised some questions, particularly since guitarist Nick Hipa categorically denounced the band's disgraced frontman as a "sociopathic narcissist in definite need of rehabilitation" in a social-media post back in 2014.

Photo credit: Tom Flynn