Shaped By Fire

Shaped By Fire is As I Lay Dying's seventh studio album, released by Nuclear Blast on 20 September 2019 and the only album the band made for that label. According to the label, the five musicians reconnected in early 2018 after a five-year hiatus, and the first thing they recorded together was "My Own Grave", issued as a single in June 2018. The rest was written and recorded alongside it; "Redefined" followed as a single in April 2019, and the album was announced in August 2019 with a video for the title track. Announcing it, the band spoke of years that had led them towards growth and reconciliation, and of music as their way to offer hope. The band produced the album themselves and handled the engineering too, with help from a long-time friend and collaborator, Killswitch Engage's Adam Dutkiewicz. This time each member tracked his parts separately. Joseph McQueen mixed the record at Sparrow Sound in Los Angeles and Ted Jensen mastered it at Sterling Sound in Nashville. The one exception is "My Own Grave": the band produced it with Drew Fulk as co-producer, and Adam "Nolly" Getgood mixed it. The artwork is by Corey Meyers. The band said the title track shares its lyrical ground with the two earlier singles but explores new musical territory. Twelve songs run from "Burn To Emerge" to "The Toll It Takes", played by Tim Lambesis (vocals), Phil Sgrosso and Nick Hipa (guitars), Josh Gilbert (bass) and Jordan Mancino (drums). The album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 50 on the chart dated 5 October 2019 and reached No. 3 on Top Hard Rock Albums and No. 5 on Independent Albums; in the UK it reached No. 4 on the Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart. A digital deluxe version followed in 2021, adding "Roots Below", "Destruction Or Strength", live recordings from Munich and an instrumental version of the whole album. In October 2024 it was withdrawn from streaming services; the band explained that a five-year distribution deal had ended and the album was theirs again.