Out of Ashes

Out of Ashes
Studio album by Dead by Sunrise
Released October 13, 2009
Recorded 2007-2009
Genre Alternative rock, emo, electronic rock, post-grunge
Length 43:43
47:12 (with bonus track)
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Howard Benson
Chester Bennington (uncredited)
Singles from Out of Ashes
  1. "Crawl Back In"
    Released: August 18, 2009
  2. "Let Down"
    Released: November 24, 2009

Out of Ashes is the debut studio album by American rock band Dead by Sunrise, which consists of Linkin Park lead vocalist Chester Bennington and the band members of Julien-K. It was released on October 13, 2009 through Warner Bros. Records, to mixed reception. The album was produced by Howard Benson. The album charted in a respectably high position in the Billboard 200, peaking at #29. The album spawned two singles, "Crawl Back In" and "Let Down", both which achieved moderate success.

The album's lyrical contains many personal experiences by Bennington in the previous years before the album's production.[1] It was described as "really dark"[2] and "much more of a rock album" than the works of Linkin Park.[3]

Contents

History

Out of Ashes was originally slated for a 2006 release, when the group was still known as Snow White Tan. It was soon pushed to an early 2007 release, but due to his commitments to Linkin Park, Bennington held the record off indefinitely. The Pulse of Radio posted that Bennington's solo album was still in production and would be finalized in the spring of 2008.[4] At this point, Bennington described in an interview with Rolling Stone that he hoped to see the album released in 2009, placing his full commitment to the album. The band made its debut in 2008 at Marquee Theatre at Tempe, Arizona.[5] He also said in some interviews that he would be working on the record while simultaneously writing Linkin Park's then-unreleased fourth studio album,[6] and that the songs on the album developed during that process.[7]

Style and composition

Bennington said about the album's style "felt and sounded really good", but "they weren't right stylistically for Linkin Park." and described the songs as "darker and moodier" than the sounds of Linkin Park.[7] Linkin Park co-lead vocalist Mike Shinoda stated that, compared to Linkin Park's work, is "much more of a rock album" [3] Bennington also described the album in an interview with MTV that "It's really dark. It's like post-apocalyptic Blade Runner meets LSD."[2] He also stated that all the songs were based on personal experiences.[1] In the same interview, Bennington said,

“ It's not really all about one thing. It's about some dark stuff. It's about falling in love. It's about looking at the world from an outside perspective. All of those things add something a little different to the record. It does tell a story but, at the same time, each song does have its own life. I like the ebb and flow that the album has from the first song to the last.[1] ”

As well as singing, Bennington also performs guitar and synthesizer on the album. All extra instrumental, programming and production was undertaken by Julien-K members Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck, Brandon Belsky, Elias Andra, and Anthony "Fu" Valcic.

Release and Promotion

In the summer of 2009, the official name and release date for the album was announced. Dead by Sunrise went out on tour with Linkin Park during August, promoting Out of Ashes by playing three songs ("Fire, "Crawl Back In", "My Suffering") every show during Linkin Park's first encore break. The first single from the album, "Crawl Back In", was released for download on August 18, with an accompanying music video released on September 8. The entire album was uploaded to the band's official MySpace profile on October 9, just four days before the official release. The album did considerably well in the charts, and reached #29 on the Billboard 200.

On October 13, 2009, the same day as the album's release, Dead by Sunrise made their first television appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. The band also performed on October 21, 2009 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. After its release, Dead by Sunrise proceeded to tour throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, promoting it.

On November 24, the second official single, "Let Down" was released, along with an accompanying music video.[8]

Despite reports that "Inside of Me"[9] and "Too Late"[10] were going to be the next two singles, they never saw official releases, although "Inside of Me" was included as a b-side to the international single of "Let Down".[11]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [12]
Billboard (positive)[13]
Kerrang! [14]
Rock Sound (8/10)[15]
Rolling Stone
The Second Supper (negative)[16]
SHRED (9/10)[17]
The Los Angeles Times [18]
The New York Times (mixed)[19]
The Tune (2.4/5) [20]

Out of Ashes received mixed reviews among music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 59 based on 5 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[21]

Poppy Cleere of SHRED praised the album, saying that "Out of Ashes is a beautifully crafted album which skillfully takes the listener on a whirlwind trip through Bennington’s remarkable trials of recent life."[17] Gregory Heaney of Allmusic gave a favorable review of the album, saying that "As a whole, Out of Ashes is a solid record and a fine opening volley for Bennington's solo work."[12] Gary Graff of Billboard, who also positively reviewed the album, described Out of Ashes as "grittier and more punk-driven" than the works of Linkin Park.[13] Faye Lewis of Rock Sound says that it "throws down anguished alt-rock and enough crunching guitars and intense lyrics to frighten off Linkin Park comparisons."[15]

Rolling Stone says that the album is "oddly inert, lacking both the brute force and big choruses that raised Linkin Park to rap-rock godhead status." August Brown of The Los Angeles Times equally gave a mixed review, saying "while Out of Ashes has moments of spark, it's more scattershot and less ambitious than the music Bennington makes with Linkin Park."[18] Jon Pareles of The New York Times called Out of Ashes as "spacious, state of the art pop", but at the same time "shamelessly imitative", citing similarities to Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Green Day and Metallica.[19] Jordy Kasko of The Tune, who is a fan of Linkin Park, also gave a mixed review, saying "In the end, Chester hasn't created another Linkin Park album, but it's a little too close for comfort." [20] Brett Emerson of The Second Supper gave a negative review, saying that "There are brief moments of lucid enjoyment, but for the most part Out of Ashes plays like sedate rock wallpaper with aims of sedate media attention." [16]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Chester Bennington, Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck and Anthony Falcic. 

No. Title Length
1. "Fire"   3:50
2. "Crawl Back In"   3:03
3. "Too Late"   2:59
4. "Inside of Me"   2:18
5. "Let Down"   3:58
6. "Give Me Your Name"   4:56
7. "My Suffering"   2:59
8. "Condemned"   2:37
9. "Into You"   3:23
10. "End of the World"   3:56
11. "Walking in Circles"   4:43
12. "In the Darkness"   5:24
Total length:
 43:43

Personnel

Dead by Sunrise
Production

Charts

Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US US
Rock		 US
Digital		 US Alt. US
HR		 UK AUT CHE FRA GER
[22]		 NLD
29 12 9 9 5 74 11 18 109 5 82
  • US sales: 50,000

References

  1. ^ a b c Florino, Rick (5 October 2009). "Interview: Dead By Sunrise". Artistdirect. Rogue Digital. http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/interview-dead-by-sunrise/6153307. Retrieved 22 July 2011. 
  2. ^ a b Montgomery, James (25 June 2009). "Linkin Park Moving On From Style Of 'Transformers' Track". MTV. MTV Networks. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1614662/linkin-park-moving-on-from-style-transformers-track.jhtml. Retrieved 22 July 2011. 
  3. ^ a b Graff, Gary (22 May 2009). "Linkin Park crosses "New Divide" for "Transformers"". Billboard. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/23/us-linkin-idUSTRE54M02320090523. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  4. ^ The Pulse of Radio (15 May 2008). "LINKIN PARK Frontman Waiting For Right Time To Issue Side Project Album". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=97086. Retrieved 22 July 2011. 
  5. ^ Fuoco, Christina (12 May 2008). "Chester Bennington Talks New Band Dead by Sunrise, Next Linkin Park Album". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/chester-bennington-talks-new-band-dead-by-sunrise-next-linkin-park-album-20080512. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  6. ^ Wener, Ben (7 August 2008). "Linkin Park's Chester Bennington talks Projekt Revolution". The Orange County Register. The Orange County Register. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/linkin-park-chester-2117810-bennington-projekt. Retrieved 22 July 2011. 
  7. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (9 July 2009). "Linkin Park's Bennington Readies Side Project Dead By Sunrise". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/linkin-parks-bennington-readies-side-project-dead-by-sunrise-20090709. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  8. ^ "Future Releases". allaccess.com. All Access. http://www.allaccess.com/alternative/future-releases. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  9. ^ Anderson, Sara (28 January 2010). "Dead by Sunrise 'Inside of Me' - New Song". AOL Radio. CBS Radio. http://www.aolradioblog.com/2010/01/28/dead-by-sunrise-inside-of-me/. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  10. ^ "Cool New Music". allaccess.com. All Access. http://www.allaccess.com/hot-modern-ac/cool-new-music. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  11. ^ iTunes - Let Down EP
  12. ^ a b Heaney, Gregory. "Review: Out of Ashes". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1646726. Retrieved 11 October 2009. 
  13. ^ a b Graff, Gary (09 October 2009). "Dead By Sunrise, "Out of Ashes"". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/new-releases/owen-new-leaves-1004016124.story#/new-releases/dead-by-sunrise-out-of-ashes-1004021117.story. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  14. ^ "Out of Ashes (WARNER BROS) KKKK", Kerrang! (1282): 52, 7 October 2009 
  15. ^ a b Graff, Gary (09 October 2009). "Dead By Sunrise, "Out of Ashes"". Billboard. http://www.rocksound.tv/reviews/article/dead-by-sunrise-out-of-ashes. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  16. ^ a b Emerson, Brett. "Dead By Sunrise - "Out of Ashes"". The Second Supper. http://www.secondsupper.com/review.php?r=152. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  17. ^ a b Cleere, Poppy. "Dead By Sunrise - "Out of Ashes" Album Review". SHRED. http://www.shrednews.com/deadbysunrisecdreview. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  18. ^ a b Brown, August (14 October 2009). "Album review: Dead by Sunrise's 'Out of Ashes'". The Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/10/album-review-dead-by-sunrises-out-of-ashes.html. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  19. ^ a b Pareles, Jon (11 October 2009). "Critic's Choice New CDs". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/arts/music/12choi.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1308898050-I4gGgQEUrswMxAWFFYOuRg. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  20. ^ a b Kasko, Jordy. "Dead By Sunrise - Out of Ashes (2009)". The Tune. http://www.thetunemusic.com/2009/10/dead-by-sunrise-out-of-ashes-2009.html. Retrieved 24 June 2011. 
  21. ^ "Out of Ashes reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/out-of-ashes/critic-reviews. Retrieved 2011-06-24. 
  22. ^ German albums chart
Dead by Sunrise
Chester Bennington · Ryan Shuck · Amir Derakh · Brandon Belsky · Elias Andra · Anthony "Fu" Valcic
Albums
Out of Ashes
Singles
"Crawl Back In" · "Let Down" · "Inside of Me" · "Too Late"
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