A Star-Crossed Wasteland

A Star-Crossed Wasteland
Studio album by In This Moment
Released July 9, 2010 (2010-07-09)
(See Release history)
Recorded February–April 2010
Genre Metalcore
Post-hardcore
Alternative metal
Length 42:08
Label Century Media
Producer Kevin Churko
In This Moment chronology
The Dream
(2008)		 A Star-Crossed Wasteland (2010)
Singles from A Star-Crossed Wasteland
  1. "The Gun Show"
    Released: June 1, 2010

A Star-Crossed Wasteland is the third studio album by American metalcore band In This Moment. The album was first released in Germany on July 9, 2010 and later in the United States by Century Media and was named by Alternative Press as one of the most anticipated releases of 2010.[1] This is the first album not to feature bassist Jesse Landry.

Contents

Background

Before the band started their first headlining tour in late 2009, vocalist Maria Brink announced that they had begun writing songs for their upcoming third album to be released the following summer. In January, the band described the sounds of A Star-Crossed Wasteland in a Myspace posting, talking about their plans for 2010:

“ As far as direction for the new album everyone in the band is feeling a heavier/ darker vibe, We want the lush production and melodic layers from "The Dream" with the raw power and aggression from "Beautiful Tragedy" all mixed together...we are the kind of band that musically does what we want, from the heart, we do not follow trends or fads, the new ITM album will be no exception, we are writing from our heart and I can promise you what you hear from us next will be 100% THE REAL DEAL, no flavor of the week bullshit here.[2] ”

Brink says working with Churko was the obvious choice: "We worked with Kevin Churko on the last album, and that’s who we want. He’s our dude. He can take the second album that we just had, still go heavy, but not sound just like our first album and grow into something new and evolved. We want to move up without sounding like we’ve gone backwards."[3]

Production and recording began in February 2010 at the Wolve's Den in Las Vegas. This is also the first studio album to feature new bass player, Kyle Konkiel. The album was completed in April and Brink announced the release date during an interview at the Revolver Golden God Awards.

About the album

In January 2009, Brink revealed two working song titles, The Gun Show and The World Is On Fire on her website. Lyrically, Brink drew inspiration from her personal life, mostly the ending of her relationship with Devildriver bassist Jon Miller.[4] She describes her experiences on the album title and it's meaning, "I wrote about my experiences and kinda this metaphorical story type thing. There is definitely an underlying theme for this whole entire album of this post-apocalyptic wasteland world and 'star-crossed lovers' is obviously where these two people are meant to basically fail and it's not gonna work out, so it's this Star-Crossed Wasteland world."[5]

The sound of A Star-Crossed Wasteland takes elements from both Beautiful Tragedy and The Dream, but with a darker and heavier sound. Chris Howorth describes: "We went in a much heavier direction on this album. We feel it’s our defining album. Just the right mix of aggression and melody."[6] Howorth also does the backing vocals for many of the songs such as "Iron Army", "The Road", and "The Last Cowboy". "The Promise" is a duet featuring vocals by Adrian Patrick, lead singer of Otherwise. Originally, the male vocal parts were intended for Ivan L. Moody of Five Finger Death Punch.

Promotion and tour

A teaser trailer was released on May 19 containing a small snippet of a new song, "The Gun Show". A few weeks later, a new trailer was released featuring an extended clip of the song, a first look at the music video and also a glimpse of the album cover artwork.

On June 1, "The Gun Show" premiered on Sirius XM Radio Liquid Metal channel along with an interview with Brink. Three other songs were also premiered that night including "Iron Army", "Standing Alone", and "Blazin". On June 14, clips of the album can be previewed on iTunes, a full month before the release date. Another track, "Just Drive" was made available for online streaming on July 3. The entire album was available for streaming on July 9.

Tour

In late 2009, Brink and Howorth revealed that they will be participating in a summer festival for 2010. It was later announced that they will be playing a part of Rockstar energy drink's Mayhem Festival 2010, which will be co-headlined by Korn and Rob Zombie. The tour will last for five weeks, kicking off July 10 and ending on August 14.

Singles

Track listing

All lyrics written by Maria Brink, all music composed by In This Moment and Kevin Churko.

Standard Edition
No. Title Length
1. "The Gun Show"   4:47
2. "Just Drive"   3:27
3. "The Promise (featuring Adrian Patrick of Otherwise)"   4:28
4. "Standing Alone"   3:51
5. "A Star-Crossed Wasteland"   4:31
6. "Blazin'"   4:21
7. "The Road (featuring Gus G)"   4:04
8. "Iron Army"   3:27
9. "The Last Cowboy"   3:54
10. "World In Flames"   5:21
Total length:
 42:08

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
About.com [7]
Allmusic [8]
Alternative Press [9]
Boston Herald B+[10]
Metalholic [11]
Pop Matters [12]
Rock Sound [13]
Sputnikmusic [14]
411mania.con [15]

The album received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its release. The NewReview gave the album a 4 out of 5 and stated "The band have put out a monumental work that is utterly and completely enjoyable that sets the standard— and boy is it high."[16] The Boston Herald gave it a B+, calling Maria Brinks vocals "a roaring, emotional hellon and much more than just a pretty face."[17] MSN Music calls the record "powerful" and contains some of the "heaviest stuff they've ever recorded."[18] The album received 4.5 stars from Alternative Press which states that the band have created a "modern metal masterpiece."[19] Chad Bower of About.com rated the album 3.5 of 5 stars, and says of Brinks vocals, "The transitions between singing and screaming seem smoother this time around."[20]

Lenny Vowels of the 411mania.com gave A Star-Crossed Wasteland 7 out of 10 stars which is "good" according to the 411 Legend and summarized his review by saying "As a whole, with this album, it seemed like In This Moment finally took the necessary steps towards becoming a bigger band in America. The album sounds quite a bit more mainstream than their previous two releases. It's not so much bad as it is hit-and-miss. Thankfully, it's mostly a hit. While I certainly can't say I'm a fan of everything on this album, the positive sides bring the goods. Maybe this will be the album that finally gets In This Moment the amount of exposure they need in the U.S."[15] Phil Freeman of AllMusic compared the album's sound to the works of Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil and stated "Established fans of In This Moment will love A Star-Crossed Wasteland, but as their best album, it's also a perfect introduction for a newcomer."[8]

Personnel

In This Moment
Guest musicians
  • Gus G – guitar on "The Road"
  • Adrian Patrick – additional vocals on "The Promise"
Production
  • Kevin Churko – producer, engineering, mixing, pro-tools
  • Kane Churko – pro-tools, engineering
  • Anthony Clarkson – artwork, layout
  • Mike Gitter – A&R
  • Steve Joh – A&R
  • Andy Hartmark – photography
  • Kemnay Churko – photography
  • Tara Tatangeio – make-up, hair stylist
  • Sheri Bodel – clothing design
  • Rob "Blasko" Nicholson – management

Chart Positions and Sales

A Star-Crossed Wasteland debuted at #40 on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 10,500 copies in its first week of release.[21] It also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Independent albums chart and #8 on the Top Hard Rock albums chart.[22] This is the highest chart position to date by the band beating its predecessor which debuted at #70 on the Billboard 200 with 8,000 copies sold in 2008.

Chart (2010) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200[22] 40
Top Hard Rock Albums[22] 4
Top Independent Albums[22] 1
Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums[22] 8
Top Rock Albums[22] 13

Release history

Region Date
July 9, 2010 Europe
July 12, 2010 United Kingdom
July 13, 2010 United States
August 25, 2010 Japan

References

  1. ^ "In This Moment, "One of The Most Anticipated Releases of 2010"". barebonesmusic.com. December 9, 2009. http://heavymetal.about.com/od/interviews/a/inthismomentinterview2009.htm. 
  2. ^ "2010 Here We Come". myspace.com/inthismoment. January 2, 2010. http://heavymetal.about.com/od/interviews/a/inthismomentinterview2009.htm. 
  3. ^ "In This Moment Interview". about.com. August 5, 2009. http://heavymetal.about.com/od/interviews/a/inthismomentinterview2009.htm. 
  4. ^ "In This Moment Interview: Chris Howorth". The Gauntlet. July 10, 2010. http://www.thegauntlet.com/interview/2398/624/In-This-Moment.html. 
  5. ^ "In This Moment: A Princess and her Cowboys". 101distribution.com. June 14, 2010. http://www.101distribution.com/article/int10. 
  6. ^ "Rocket Interviews In This Moment Guitarist Chris Howorth". themetalden.com. June 14, 2010. http://themetalden.com/index.php?p=14265. 
  7. ^ "About.com review". http://heavymetal.about.com/od/i/fr/In-This-Moment-A-Star-Crossed-Wasteland.htm. 
  8. ^ a b "AllMusic review". http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1827214. 
  9. ^ "Alternative Press review". http://www.altpress.com/reviews/entry/in_this_moment_-_a_star_crossed_wasteland. 
  10. ^ "Boston Herald review". http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1268338&srvc=rss. 
  11. ^ Rose, Rustyn. "Review: A Star-Crossed Wasteland". Metalholic Magazine. http://metalholic.com/2010/07/in-this-moment-unveil-a-star-crossed-wasteland/. Retrieved July 6, 2010. 
  12. ^ "In This Moment: A Star-Crossed Wasteland". Begrand, Adrien. 2010-08-05. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/128714-in-this-moment-a-star-crossed-wasteland/. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
  13. ^ "Rock Sound review". http://www.rocksound.tv/reviews/article/in-this-moment-a-star-crossed-wasteland. 
  14. ^ "Sputnikmusic review". http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=37805. 
  15. ^ a b "In This Moment – A Star-Crossed Wasteland Review". http://www.411mania.com/music/album_reviews/146068. 
  16. ^ Amos, Luke (June 28, 2010). "In This Moment – A Star-Crossed Wasteland". The NewReview. http://thenewreview.net/reviews/in-this-moment-a-star-crossed-wasteland. Retrieved June 28, 2010. 
  17. ^ "In This Moment – A Star-Crossed Wasteland". Boston Herald (Boston Herald). July 16, 2010. http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1268338&srvc=rss. 
  18. ^ "Yesterday's New Releases, Today!". MSN Music: Heavy Metal Superfan Blog (MSN Music). July 14, 2010. http://music.msn.com/superfans/heavy-metal/blog/yesterday-s-new-releases-today/. 
  19. ^ "Record Store". Alternative Press (Alternative Press). July 6, 2010. http://www.altpress.com/magazine/issue/ap_265.2_-_warped_tour_2010/.  (In print edition)
  20. ^ "In This Moment – 'A Star-Crossed Wasteland' review". About.com (About.com). July 18, 2010. http://heavymetal.about.com/od/i/fr/In-This-Moment-A-Star-Crossed-Wasteland.htm. 
  21. ^ "IN THIS MOMENT's 'A Star-Crossed Wasteland' Cracks U.S. Top 40". Blabbermouth. July 21, 2010. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=143295. Retrieved July 21, 2010. 
  22. ^ a b c d e f http://www.billboard.com/#/album/in-this-moment/a-star-crossed-wasteland/1381100
In This Moment
Maria Brink · Chris Howorth · Blake Bunzel · Jeff Fabb · Travis Johnson
Jesse Landry · Josh Newell · Pascual Romero · Kyle Konkiel
Studio albums
Beautiful Tragedy · The Dream · A Star-Crossed Wasteland
Singles
"Prayers" · "Beautiful Tragedy" · "Forever" · "Call Me" · "The Gun Show" · "The Promise"
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