Band: The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die
Album: Illusory Walls
VÖ: 08.10.21 Digital / 03.12.21 Physisch
Label/Vertrieb: Epitaph/Indigo
Webseite: http://theworldisabeautifulplace.com
The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die have announced that their fourth studio album, Illusory Walls, out digitally October 8 and on vinyl December 3 via Epitaph Records. Illusory Wallscomes four years after the Connecticut-bred collective’s 2017 release Always Foreign.
Taken from the unlikely source of the video game Dark Souls, the album’s title; Illusory Walls “refers to a hidden surface that seems to prevent entry, but upon inspection is nothing more than a visual illusion,” vocalist/guitarist David F. Bello.
The process for Illusory Walls took about a year, written and recorded remotely between the bear-filled woods of Connecticut & the streets of quarantined Philadelphia – a first for the band – due to the coronavirus pandemic. The extra time made for a more relaxed, comfortable experience in the studio, allowing the band to realize the full extent of their musical and thematic aspirations.
Co-produced by vocalist/guitarist Chris Teti alongside his studio partner Greg Thomas (END, Misery Signals), Illusory Walls takes on the weight of human existence while it’s buckling under the pressure of today’s near-dystopian society. Personal anxieties and political struggles collide with a series of portentous, apocalyptic, and dramatic tunes, resulting in some of the darkest music the band has made since forming in 2009. For while Illusory Walls certainly draws you deep into the world of the band, it also takes you deeper into your own, into crevices of your mind and life that you perhaps hadn’t encountered or weren’t able to explore before.
Last week, the band shared the first glimpse at their forthcoming record with “Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance,” a title also taken from Dark Souls in reference to a specific gameplay mechanic in which the player must seek revenge on a character for compromising their home base. Lyrically, the song questions the effects on mankind when massive corporations take over all aspects of our lives.
Band: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
Album: Always Foreign
VÖ: 29.09.2017
Label: Epitaph / Indigo
Website: www.theworldisabeautifulplace.com
The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid To Die have announced the forthcoming release of their third full-length, Always Foreign. Due out September 29 on Epitaph, Always Foreign follows the Connecticut-bred collective’s acclaimed 2015 album Harmlessness.
Produced by TWIABP guitarist Christopher Teti, Always Foreign confronts everything from the opioid epidemic to xenophobia to emotional abuse in relationships. Throughout the album, TWIABP match their sprawling arrangements and layered lyricism with a raw emotionality.
“When we started writing we were fresh off Trump being elected, so there’s an anger to the album that’s different from what we’ve done in the past,” says TWIABP vocalist David F Bello. “There’s a lot more resistance thinking throughout the songs—not in a way that’s strictly anti-Trump, but also addressing things like white supremacy and controlling elements of the state.”
Along with Bello, Cyr, and Teti, the TWIABP lineup includes Tyler Bussey (guitar, banjo, synth, vocals), Dylan Balliett (guitar, vocals), Katie Dvorak (synth, vocals), and Steven K Buttery (percussion, vocals). Formed in Connecticut in 2009, TWIABP made their full-length debut with Whenever, If Ever (a 2013 release hailed as “revolutionary” by Pitchfork) and later delivered Harmlessness (praised as “bold and complex and dazzling” by Noisey and “grandiose and dramatic” by NPR).
