Incomparable
Encyclopedia
Incomparable is the second studio album
by Swedish metal band Dead by April
. Production for the album took place after a lineup change of guitarists and vocalists for the band following the release of their self-titled debut
. Incomparable was released on September 21 in the United States and most countries, and on September 26 in the United Kingdom, making this the first album by the band to be released in the US in the same time frame as it's European release. The album's first official single, "Within My Heart", was released on May 16, 2011 as an EP containing two additional tracks to be featured on the album. The second single, "Calling", was released on September 4 with an accompanying music video released October 6. The third single, "Lost", was released on September 19, 2011 following the delay of the "Calling" music video.
Like the bands debut album, Incomparable included re-recorded demos as well as brand new tracks. On their debut album, only two out of 16 tracks were new, and the 14 others were re-recorded demo songs. Incomparable, however, has only one re-recording while the other 12 songs on the standard edition are new. Re-recordings of the songs "Lost", "Painting Shadows" and "Unhateable", were made during the production of the album. Incomparable charted at number two on the Swedish Albums Charts.
in 2009, Dead by April toured extensively throughout Europe to promote album sales until mid-2010. On April 23, 2010, it was announced on the band's official MySpace
page that founding member Pontus Hjelm had officially left Dead by April because he wanted to focus on his songwriting. Although Pontus would no longer be an official band member, he wanted to continue writing music for Dead by April, telling the fans that "nothing is different in the songwriting department". The replacement for Pontus Hjelm became Zandro Santiago. Although Zandro only provides vocals, the band felt that it did not change much of the sound to continue with only one guitarist. However, the last remaining guitarist, Johan Olssen, would leave the band in late 2010 for personal reasons, wanting to work on his clothing line. With the lineup changes, Pontus returned as a "session" player for the album and upcoming promotional tour, though plans to have Pontus rejoin the band are in talks.
The album began mixing in the second quarter of 2011 and concluded on April 19, 2011. On the 4th of July, the band announced the title of the new album to be "Incomparable", and it was announced on July 11 that it would be released on September 21, though it was rumored to be delayed in early August to a possible November 7 release date. The album cover was originally going to be released by the band on Facebook once they reached 230,000 "likes", but other sites leaked the cover so the band released it early. The cover features a sky blue back ground with the same "Dead by April" logo as their self-titled album. The center shows a Japanese girl with blood and a black substance coming out of her mouth, similar to scenes from The Grudge. The album is said to be heavier and more dynamic than their self-titled album. Zandro Santiago commented on the band's genre, stating that, "[Dead by April is a] metal and boyband pop. Metal fans might not handle it properly."
The album was finalized in August, where the band announced more details about it. It was confirmed that the album used executive producer Jacob Hellner along with mixing by Stefan Glaumann, both of whom worked together on every Rammstein
album to date. The band commented on the album and its production, saying, "The new recordings are now complete, and we're delighted with the way they've turned out — they are WAY beyond anything we've done before, smashing our debut! Jacob Hellner has given us the heaviness we've always craved... we are super-excited, and can't wait for our fans, and everyone else, to hear the results!" The album was accidentally leaked on September 3, 2011, with Universal Music Group working to remove all leaks.
, that contained a demo version of a new song, "More Than Yesterday", that would be featured on the album. The song soon became played during the band's live shows and a recording video was released for the song. The release of the single "Within My Heart" was delayed several months following difficulties getting the band's discography on sale on the iTunes Music Store. The single was finally released on May 16, 2011 as an EP containing two other songs: "Two-Faced" and "Unhateable". The song "Unhateable" is actually a rerecording of an old song that was recorded in 2007 but not included on the band's debut album. Another new song, "You Should Know", was added to the live playlist for the band in July 2011, though the studio version did not appear until the album itself was released the following September.
The second single for the album, "Calling", was set to be released on September 19, along with the first music video for the album. It was released on September 4 but the video was not released until October 6 due to delays in the video shoot. The single had actually appeared a few months prior during a live performance on July 11, 2011 as an encore song. Because the "Calling" music video was delayed, the band released a third single, "Lost", which included a b-side of a heavier mix of "Promise Me", which was released on September 19, the intended release date for "Calling". On August 22, the band released a teaser of the rerecorded version of the track "Lost", the first of what was a series of teasers released every Monday until the album was released. The second was "You Should Know", third was "Calling", fourth was "Too Late", and the final teaser was "Last Goodbye". The band also released a clip of the music video for "Calling" a few weeks prior to release. Also, to promote the album, the band played a few acoustic shows at Bengan's Record Store in Stockholm, Sweden in July 2011, where the vinyl edition of Incomparable was announced.
For promotional touring for the album, the band played at Sonisphere Festival
in Sweden on July 9 and the band will continue to tour at the end of 2011 following the release of the album. Due to extensive touring, drummer Alexander Svenningson chose to take a few months off to rest his ears, as recording for the album had already concluded. Jonas Ekdahl, the drummer Strimmel's other band, Death Destruction, replaced Alexander Jonas until he returned for more shows. In late September, Dead by April played at Debaser Medis in Stockholm and in Gothenburg at Sticky Fingers three days later for a few album release shows. Following the release of the album, the band plotted a UK tour, "The SlaughTour 2011", which was scheduled to begin on November 8th, with the band playing each day until November 13th, in venues including: Southampton, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Newcastle, and Manchester. Supporting acts for the UK tour include Marionette
, Machinae Supremacy
, and Overload. The tour was delayed to December 2011, with the same locations, but Machinae Supremacy dropped out of the tour and One Without replaced them.
's Innan jag kände dig, which was in it's second week of release and had already reached gold status in Sweden. Because no physical copies were released elsewhere, the album relied entirely on digital downloads and therefore did not chart in the United States or anywhere outside of Sweden.
Dead by April
With
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by Swedish metal band Dead by April
Dead by April
Dead by April is a Swedish metal band from Gothenburg, formed in February 2007. The band consists of Jimmie Strimell, Zandro Santiago, Marcus Wesslén and Alex Svenningsson. They released their self-titled debut album in May 2009. In 2010 the two guitarists, Pontus Hjelm and Johan Olsson, left the...
. Production for the album took place after a lineup change of guitarists and vocalists for the band following the release of their self-titled debut
Dead by April (album)
-Bonus Track:-Bonus DVD:* "Video Blog"* "The Making Of"* "Losing You" * "Losing You" * "Photo Slide" * "Interview"-Critical reception:-Personnel:Dead by April...
. Incomparable was released on September 21 in the United States and most countries, and on September 26 in the United Kingdom, making this the first album by the band to be released in the US in the same time frame as it's European release. The album's first official single, "Within My Heart", was released on May 16, 2011 as an EP containing two additional tracks to be featured on the album. The second single, "Calling", was released on September 4 with an accompanying music video released October 6. The third single, "Lost", was released on September 19, 2011 following the delay of the "Calling" music video.
Like the bands debut album, Incomparable included re-recorded demos as well as brand new tracks. On their debut album, only two out of 16 tracks were new, and the 14 others were re-recorded demo songs. Incomparable, however, has only one re-recording while the other 12 songs on the standard edition are new. Re-recordings of the songs "Lost", "Painting Shadows" and "Unhateable", were made during the production of the album. Incomparable charted at number two on the Swedish Albums Charts.
Background
Following the release of their self-titled debutDead by April (album)
-Bonus Track:-Bonus DVD:* "Video Blog"* "The Making Of"* "Losing You" * "Losing You" * "Photo Slide" * "Interview"-Critical reception:-Personnel:Dead by April...
in 2009, Dead by April toured extensively throughout Europe to promote album sales until mid-2010. On April 23, 2010, it was announced on the band's official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page that founding member Pontus Hjelm had officially left Dead by April because he wanted to focus on his songwriting. Although Pontus would no longer be an official band member, he wanted to continue writing music for Dead by April, telling the fans that "nothing is different in the songwriting department". The replacement for Pontus Hjelm became Zandro Santiago. Although Zandro only provides vocals, the band felt that it did not change much of the sound to continue with only one guitarist. However, the last remaining guitarist, Johan Olssen, would leave the band in late 2010 for personal reasons, wanting to work on his clothing line. With the lineup changes, Pontus returned as a "session" player for the album and upcoming promotional tour, though plans to have Pontus rejoin the band are in talks.
The album began mixing in the second quarter of 2011 and concluded on April 19, 2011. On the 4th of July, the band announced the title of the new album to be "Incomparable", and it was announced on July 11 that it would be released on September 21, though it was rumored to be delayed in early August to a possible November 7 release date. The album cover was originally going to be released by the band on Facebook once they reached 230,000 "likes", but other sites leaked the cover so the band released it early. The cover features a sky blue back ground with the same "Dead by April" logo as their self-titled album. The center shows a Japanese girl with blood and a black substance coming out of her mouth, similar to scenes from The Grudge. The album is said to be heavier and more dynamic than their self-titled album. Zandro Santiago commented on the band's genre, stating that, "[Dead by April is a] metal and boyband pop. Metal fans might not handle it properly."
The album was finalized in August, where the band announced more details about it. It was confirmed that the album used executive producer Jacob Hellner along with mixing by Stefan Glaumann, both of whom worked together on every Rammstein
Rammstein
Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
album to date. The band commented on the album and its production, saying, "The new recordings are now complete, and we're delighted with the way they've turned out — they are WAY beyond anything we've done before, smashing our debut! Jacob Hellner has given us the heaviness we've always craved... we are super-excited, and can't wait for our fans, and everyone else, to hear the results!" The album was accidentally leaked on September 3, 2011, with Universal Music Group working to remove all leaks.
Singles and promotion
In August 2010, the band released a minute-long teaser for the album's first single titled "Within My Heart". Before the full single was released, however, the band released a compilation album, StrongerStronger (Dead by April album)
Stronger is the first compilation by Swedish alternative metal band Dead by April. It was released on January 24, 2011. The album features some b-sides, acoustic versions, remixes, cover songs as well as an unreleased demo version of the song "More Than Yesterday" as well as two unreleased...
, that contained a demo version of a new song, "More Than Yesterday", that would be featured on the album. The song soon became played during the band's live shows and a recording video was released for the song. The release of the single "Within My Heart" was delayed several months following difficulties getting the band's discography on sale on the iTunes Music Store. The single was finally released on May 16, 2011 as an EP containing two other songs: "Two-Faced" and "Unhateable". The song "Unhateable" is actually a rerecording of an old song that was recorded in 2007 but not included on the band's debut album. Another new song, "You Should Know", was added to the live playlist for the band in July 2011, though the studio version did not appear until the album itself was released the following September.
The second single for the album, "Calling", was set to be released on September 19, along with the first music video for the album. It was released on September 4 but the video was not released until October 6 due to delays in the video shoot. The single had actually appeared a few months prior during a live performance on July 11, 2011 as an encore song. Because the "Calling" music video was delayed, the band released a third single, "Lost", which included a b-side of a heavier mix of "Promise Me", which was released on September 19, the intended release date for "Calling". On August 22, the band released a teaser of the rerecorded version of the track "Lost", the first of what was a series of teasers released every Monday until the album was released. The second was "You Should Know", third was "Calling", fourth was "Too Late", and the final teaser was "Last Goodbye". The band also released a clip of the music video for "Calling" a few weeks prior to release. Also, to promote the album, the band played a few acoustic shows at Bengan's Record Store in Stockholm, Sweden in July 2011, where the vinyl edition of Incomparable was announced.
For promotional touring for the album, the band played at Sonisphere Festival
Sonisphere Festival
The Sonisphere Festival is a touring music festival which takes place across Europe between June and August. The festival is owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It is jointly-promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live...
in Sweden on July 9 and the band will continue to tour at the end of 2011 following the release of the album. Due to extensive touring, drummer Alexander Svenningson chose to take a few months off to rest his ears, as recording for the album had already concluded. Jonas Ekdahl, the drummer Strimmel's other band, Death Destruction, replaced Alexander Jonas until he returned for more shows. In late September, Dead by April played at Debaser Medis in Stockholm and in Gothenburg at Sticky Fingers three days later for a few album release shows. Following the release of the album, the band plotted a UK tour, "The SlaughTour 2011", which was scheduled to begin on November 8th, with the band playing each day until November 13th, in venues including: Southampton, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Newcastle, and Manchester. Supporting acts for the UK tour include Marionette
Marionette (band)
Marionette is a Swedish melodic death metal band. They hail from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 2005. The band achieved recognition from placing high, and often winning, many national and international music contests. Inspired by the Japanese visual-kei scene and the brutality of Swedish hardcore...
, Machinae Supremacy
Machinae Supremacy
Machinae Supremacy is a Swedish band that combines modern heavy metal and alternative rock with chiptunes. Self-defined as "SID metal", many of their songs use a SidStation that features the SID chip of the Commodore 64...
, and Overload. The tour was delayed to December 2011, with the same locations, but Machinae Supremacy dropped out of the tour and One Without replaced them.
Commercial performance
Similarly to the band's debut album, Incomparable debuted at number two on the national Swedish album charts, the band's homeland. The album was outsold only by Melissa HornMelissa Horn
Astrid "Melissa" Edwarda Horn Weitzberg, known as Melissa Horn born 8 April 1987, is a Swedish pop artist. She is the daughter of the singer Maritza Horn.-Career:...
's Innan jag kände dig, which was in it's second week of release and had already reached gold status in Sweden. Because no physical copies were released elsewhere, the album relied entirely on digital downloads and therefore did not chart in the United States or anywhere outside of Sweden.
Critical response
Gabriel Pio of The New Review called the album better than Dead by April's debut album, but noted that "For those of you who expect Dead by April to bring the heavy, don’t hold your breath." While the review criticized the lyrics, both singing and screaming were complimented for both Zandro Santiago and Jimmie Strimmel, respectively. The band was called "The metal version of The Backstreet Boys," as a compliment, and the review concluded that despite it's flaws, "Incomparable is without a doubt one of the best releases this year within the genre." A review from Swedish publication HD gave the album an overall score of one out five, calling it "a really bad example of boy band meets metal." The review noted the imbalance between the two genres and called the joint attempt "odd sticking." The review concluding by saying the band was "careless with both songwriting and arrangements" and that Incomparable is "certainly not a good album."Track listing
All tracks are written and performed by Dead by April and Pontus Hjelm.Within My Heart
Calling
Lost
Personnel
Credits for Incomparable adapted from Allmusic.Dead by April
- Jimmie Strimell – screamed vocals, clean vocals
- Zandro Santiago – clean vocals
- Marcus Wesslén – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Alexander Svenningson – drums, percussion
With
- Pontus Hjelm - leadLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, backing vocals
Production
- Jacob HellnerJacob HellnerJacob Hellner is a Swedish music producer who has produced bands like Rammstein, Apocalyptica, and Clawfinger. Currently Jacob Hellner is working with Carl-Michael Herlöfsson in the band Bomkrash....
- executive producer, recording, programming, mastering - Stefan Glaumann - mixing, additional production
- Peter ManssonPeter ManssonPeter Månsson is a Swedish music producer and songwriter, who often writes his name as Peter Mansson when working with non-Swedish artists...
- mixing, additional production
Chart positions
| Country | Position |
|---|---|
| Swedish Albums Chart | 2 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
September 21, 2011 | Universal Music Group Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... , Spinefarm |
CD, Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... , Limited Edition CD |
2776322 | |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
4988005676054 | ||||
| European Union European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958... |
September 26, 2011 | B00599UF4S | |||
| Online import | September 21, 2011 | Vinyl LP | UNI-0602527-79043 |