BoySetsFire have announced details on their forthcoming new album, and premiered the first single.
Check out "Cutting Room Floor" on BSF fan Marcel Gimmin's Facebook. The self-titled effort BoySetsFirewill be available directly from Bridge Nine and digitally on September 25, with a wide release in NA retail stores due November 20. North Americans can pre-order it now at B9Store.com. End Hits Recordswill be handling the release for the rest of the world on September 25, and have a wide variety of pre-orders for customers in their regions available here.
There is a good reason why BoySetsFire's new album is self-titled. It is the final result of a fight for freedom that lasted years and a reawakening of all the strengths within the band, combined with the power of the close bonds between its members. The focus is on their own abilities, something that was not always easy for frontman Nathan Gray, nor the rest of the band, which includes Chad Istvan, Joshua Latshaw, Chris Rakus and Robert Ehrenbrand. The captivating euphoria that has been building around the band for years has been channeled into thirteen songs that contrast with the rage of the previous album, with rousing optimism seeping from every pore. You could say that the eponymous album is the light-hearted sister of the brooding While A Nation Sleeps... (2013, Bridge Nine).
While he was in the studio, Nathan Gray was delirious with joy and sounded more enthusiastic than in any previous interview:"This album has quickly become one of my favorites we've ever done, and I am dying to get it out there. In albums past, we've talked a lot about all the terrible things going on in this world, and this time, we've focused a lot on sort of overcoming all of that. It's a much more positive vibe. Musically, there are some incredible, huge sounds on this album. It's very much us."
The first track on BoySetsFire, "Savage Blood" opens the album with an unbelievable energy that breaks down barriers. It features the crushing sound the world has come to expect from BoySetsFire, but with a level of intensity the band has rarely achieved before. The anger that has defined many of the post-hardcore veterans' albums is combined with catchy hooks.
"One Match", the first single from the album and perhaps the most unforgettable tune since the band's smash hit "Rookie", makes it clear that it is a blazing torch that will light a thousand others in dark times. Despite the track's accessibility, its lovingly crafted details show that the band has the talent to take a huge step forward in terms of songwriting on their sixth album.
"Torches to Paradise", which is an explosive force in a philosophical band like BoySetsFire, whose members have very different beliefs, has a very special meaning for bassist Robert Ehrenbrand in particular: "To me it is about freeing myself from the burden of dogma and the imposed slavery of illusions brought upon us by society, religion and mind control...setting fire to 'paradise' (aka the illusion) we free ourselves and become what we truly can be, a self-empowered and free thinking, loving entity."
This self-produced and released album deserves even more respect when you consider the band's turbulent past: Originally formed in 1994, BoySetsFire was as good as dead about five years ago, when its members put the shards of an almost failed career back together, risking a reunion. The post-hardcore pioneers, who helped shape the genre with their albums After the Eulogy and Tomorrow Come Today, both released around the millennium, were victims of the music industry's demise and the failed attempt to work with a major label affiliated record company.
That brave comeback in early 2013 was based completely on the principle of self-determination and culminated in the release of one of their most successful albums to date, While a Nation Sleeps.... The album was hailed as "one of their most cohesive melodic hardcore albums, right up in line with 2000'sAfter the Eulogy, which many consider to be their best album" (Alternative Press) and "Comeback albums are often greeted with lofty, unrealistic expectations, but it is safe to say that BoySetsFire have surpassed even the wildest of these expectations with While A Nation Sleeps..." (Sputnik Music).
BOYSETSFIRE
s/t
Release: September 25, 2015
01. Savage Blood
02. Cutting Room Floor
03. Don't Panic
04. Ordinary Lives
05. One Match
06. The Filth Is Rising
07. Torches To Paradise
08. Coward
09. Heaven Knows
10. Fall From Grace
11. Dig Your Grave
12. Breathe In, Bleed Out
13. Bled Dry
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