With an album that has sold nearly 275,000 copies (2005’s Shadows Are Security) and the headlining slot on the 2006 Sounds of the Underground tour under their belts, As I Lay Dying easily could have sniffed the crossover potential and returned with a follow-up full of slick, watered-down riffs and sugary choruses. Instead, An Ocean Between Us is a superb metal album—no wimpy, Bullet for My Valentine-style melodies here.

Produced by the band and Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz (All That Remains, Unearth) and mixed by Colin Richardson (Sepultura, Machine Head, Slipknot), the disc has a huge sound with a biting guitar tone from Nick Hipa and Phillip Sgrosso, and a virtuoso performance by drummer Jordan Mancino—he has become one of the best in the business. Tim Lambesis is a good singer and the album has its share of melodic choruses, but more often he’s in growling mode and he sounds absolutely ferocious. You can find an occasional breakdown, but I don’t see how you can call this band “metalcore” anymore. This is metal, dynamic and powerful, and An Ocean Between Us further establishes As I Lay Dying as one of the leading acts in the genre’s modern crop.

Standout tracks: “Nothing Left,” “I Never Wanted,” “The Sound of Truth,” “Wrath Upon Ourselves”