An Ocean Between Us

An Ocean Between Us
Studio album by As I Lay Dying
Released	August 21, 2007
Recorded	March 2007
Studio	Lambesis Studio, San Marcos, CA
Genre	Metalcore
Length	43:15
Label	Metal Blade
Producer	Adam Dutkiewicz, As I Lay Dying
As I Lay Dying chronology
A Long March: The First Recordings (2006) An Ocean Between Us (2007) This Is Who We Are (2009)
Singles from An Ocean Between Us
"Nothing Left" Released: September 18, 2007 "The Sound of Truth" Released: January 24, 2008 "Within Destruction" Released: May 15, 2008 "I Never Wanted" Released: May 9, 2009

An Ocean Between Us is the fourth album by American metalcore band As I Lay Dying. The album was released on August 21, 2007 through Metal Blade Records. Upon its release, it debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, with sales close to 39,500.^[1] The album features singles "Nothing Left", "The Sound of Truth", "Within Destruction" and "I Never Wanted", with music videos produced for all four.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[2]
Allmusic	[3]
Blabbermouth.net	link
Cross Rhythms	[4]
Exclaim!	Mildly positive link
HM Magazine	"best metal album this year"
PopMatters	[5]
Metal Underground	[6]
Imperiumi	[7]

The record was released on August 21, 2007 to generally positive acclaim, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

Musical style

Guitarist Nick Hipa had the following to say regarding the direction of the album.^[8]

"Collectively we've all pushed ourselves, and we're all doing things that we weren't even capable of doing on the last record. And on top of just experimenting and trying different things, I think we just wrote some pretty sick jams, so I'm happy with it. That's all I can say. For kids who like our band and think they know what to expect from us, it might throw them off a little bit . . . I encourage anybody who likes our band to approach this album with an open mind."

— Nick Hipa

Vocalist Tim Lambesis also said the following regarding the album's direction.^[9]

"(We) spent some time listening to our last album [2005's Shadows Are Security] and, just from being on tour, we became a little bit jaded by how the genre — as a whole — has sort of copied itself over and over again.

We decided we wanted to be more diverse, even down to the point where we sort of felt like we should really focus on writing songs in different categories, and then pick the best songs from those categories and use them for the record."

— Tim Lambesis

Track listing

All lyrics written by Tim Lambesis, all music composed by As I Lay Dying.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Separation" (instrumental)	1:15
2.	"Nothing Left"	3:43
3.	"An Ocean Between Us"	4:13
4.	"Within Destruction"	3:54
5.	"Forsaken"	5:18
6.	"Comfort Betrays"	2:50
7.	"I Never Wanted"	4:44
8.	"Bury Us All"	2:23
9.	"The Sound of Truth"	4:20
10.	"Departed" (instrumental)	1:40
11.	"Wrath Upon Ourselves"	4:01
12.	"This Is Who We Are"	4:54
Total length:		43:15

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

As I Lay Dying

• Tim Lambesis – lead vocals, clean vocals on "Nothing Left" and "This Is Who We Are"
• Nick Hipa – guitars, back up vocals on "Bury Us All"
• Phil Sgrosso – guitars, piano, synthesizer
• Jordan Mancino – drums

Additional Musicians

• Josh Gilbert – bass, clean vocals, additional lead vocals on "An Ocean Between Us", "Forsaken", "I Never Wanted", "The Sound of Truth", "Wrath Upon Ourselves"
• Chad Ackerman – back up vocals on "An Ocean Between Us", "Bury Us All"
• Tommy Garcia – back up vocals on "Forsaken"
• Duane Reed – back up vocals on "Forsaken"

Production

• Adam Dutkiewicz – production
• Daniel Castleman – assisting production, mixing on "Departed"
• Colin Richardson – mixing all tracks except "Departed"
• Matt Hyde – mix engineer
• Andy Sneap – guitar re-amping
• Ten Jensen – mastering
• Jacob Bannon – artwork, layout

Charts

Chart (2007) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] 33 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 24 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[12] 154 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] 43 UK Albums (OCC)[14] 117 UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[15] 8 US Billboard 200[16] 8 US Digital Albums (Billboard)[17] 8 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[18] 2 US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[19] 1 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[20] 1 US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[21] 5

Year end chart (2007) Position US Independent Albums (Billboard)[22] 32

References

1. Blabbermouth.net, "AS I LAY DYING, SIXX A.M., ADEMA First-Week Sales Revealed", Posted August 29, 2007.
2. About.com review
3. An Ocean Between Us at AllMusic
4. Cross Rhythms review
5. Pop Matters review
6. Metal Underground review
7. Tuomas Valtanen (2007-09-27). "Levyarviot: As I Lay Dying - An Ocean Between Us". Imperiumi. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
8. Blabbermouth.net, "AS I LAY DYING Guitarist Discusses Bassist's Departure", Posted May 5, 2007.
9. Sputnikmusic, "As I Lay Dying interview", Retrieved August 24, 2007.
10. "Austriancharts.at – As I Lay Dying – An Ocean Between Us" (in German). Hung Medien.
11. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
12. "アズ・アイ・レイ・ダイイングのCDアルバムランキング、アズ・アイ・レイ・ダイイングのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp.
13. "Swisscharts.com – As I Lay Dying – An Ocean Between Us". Hung Medien.
14. Chart Log UK: "A - Azzido Da Bass". UK Albums Chart. Zobble.de.
15. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
16. "As I Lay Dying – Chart history" Billboard 200 for As I Lay Dying.
17. "As I Lay Dying – Chart history" Billboard Digital Albums for As I Lay Dying.
18. "As I Lay Dying – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for As I Lay Dying.
19. "As I Lay Dying – Chart history" Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums for As I Lay Dying.
20. "As I Lay Dying – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for As I Lay Dying.
21. "As I Lay Dying – Chart history" Billboard Top Tastemaker Albums for As I Lay Dying.
22. "Billboard 2007 Year End Independent Albums". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media).