An Ocean Between Us

An Ocean Between Us followed Shadows Are Security (2005). According to singer Tim Lambesis, the writing began in late 2006 with four members: Lambesis, guitarists Phil Sgrosso and Nick Hipa, and drummer Jordan Mancino. The band was looking for a new bassist at the same time and found Josh Gilbert only after the songs were finished; he moved to San Diego in time to record both the bass and the clean vocals. Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz produced the album together with the band, and Colin Richardson mixed it. Guitars, bass and vocals were recorded at Lambesis Studios in San Marcos, California, and the drums at Big Fish in Encinitas; Ted Jensen mastered it at Sterling Sound, and Jacob Bannon handled the artwork and layout. Ahead of the release, Lambesis described the new songs as more varied than those of Shadows Are Security, and faster and heavier. The track list was made public on 6 July 2007, with "Nothing Left" as the first single. Metal Blade Records released the album on 21 August 2007, and it entered the Billboard 200 at No. 8 with first-week sales of about 39,000, the band's highest debut at the time; its previous peak had been No. 35 for Shadows Are Security. That week it also reached No. 1 on both Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums and No. 2 on Independent Albums, and it spent eight weeks on the Billboard 200. Besides "Nothing Left", music videos were made for "Within Destruction", "The Sound of Truth" and "I Never Wanted". At the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008, which honoured recordings released between 30 September 2006 and 29 September 2007, "Nothing Left" was nominated for Best Metal Performance alongside songs by King Diamond, Machine Head and Shadows Fall; the award went to Slayer's "Final Six". Metal Blade's later announcements introduce As I Lay Dying as a Grammy-nominated group. In Japan, Metal Blade Records Japan issued the album in August 2007.