Wovenwar

In 2013 the instrumentalists from metalcore outfit As I Lay Dying formed San Diego hard rock quintet Wovenwar after the group’s singer Tim Lambesis received a six-year prison term for trying to hire someone to kill his estranged wife. The new band’s roster combined As I Lay Dying members Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso on guitar, Josh Gilbert on bass, and Jordan Mancino on drums with Oh, Sleeper frontman Shane Blay, who supplied lead vocals and guitar. Moving away from the screamo approach that defined As I Lay Dying, Wovenwar adopted cleaner vocals and shifted toward the melodic hard rock end of the metalcore range. Their opening single “All Rise” appeared in April 2014, and Metal Blade Records issued the self-titled debut album three months later. After an extended stretch of heavy touring the musicians booked sessions in three separate studios located in different cities to begin their next Metal Blade album. Once tracking concluded, Phil Sgrosso left the lineup on friendly terms because of disagreements over future touring plans. The remaining members continued as a quartet and had Shane Blay add second guitar to the arrangement. The video single “Censorship” surfaced online in September 2016, and the album Honor Is Dead followed the next month.