AS I LAY DYING TO BRING METAL GRAMMY TO NEW SCHOOL

As I Lay Dying is vying for Grammy Award recognition in the Best Metal Performance category for their song “Nothing Left,” off of their latest effort An Ocean Between Us. As I Lay Dying is up for Best Metal Performance against songs by Machine Head, Slayer, King Diamond, and Shadow’s Fall.

As I Lay Dying are slowly growing their fanbase, and vocalist Tim Lambesis says that people are looking deeper inside what newer metal bands bring to the table.

“I think the genre of metal has become more popular in the last few years. I think that it opens up metal to more mainstream avenues than it normally would be a part of. I really think that fans are looking for something a little bit deeper. It’s not necessarily that metal is more accessible now, than it is that fans are looking for something with more substance to it. They just don’t want the pop single, they want to buy a whole album where they can really connect on a lyrical level, or the aggression or whatever they connect with for an entire album. You want an entire album’s worth of music, not just three minutes in a single.”

As I Lay Dying isn’t afraid to go head-to-head with bands outside their genre. They recently took home the Best Band award at the San Diego Music Awards, topping Switchfoot, Augustana, Jason Mraz, Louis XIV, among others.

“Well the San Diego music award meant a lot to us because it was voted on by the fans. Usually you get these Artist Of The Year things and it’s some committee of people who have their opinion on what sounds good and what doesn’t, but in this case it was open to anybody who wanted to vote from San Diego. We were up against some major label bands. Winning an award and being an independent band, particularly of our style of music, is pretty unheard of for a category like that.”

As I Lay Dying will be attending the awards. Songs they have to beat are: “Never Ending Hill” by King Diamond, “Aesthetics Of Hate” by Machine Head, “Redemption” by Shadows Fall, and “Final Six” by Slayer. The Grammy Awards take place on February 10. The metal award won’t be televised, but check here after the awards and we’ll have the skinny. The telecast itself airs on CBS-TV on Sunday from 8 to 11.