The Human Abstract [New Album Out August 19]

Hey guys, make sure you check out the new song, up on myspace now! You can see the album teaser video there too.


Make sure you pre-order the new album, MIDHEAVEN, in stores August 19.


Tell us what you think

To answer some questions..
The new album will be a concept album, yes, but not an album telling fictional stories.
The stories are true, but they may not be what you initially think. The songs will be puzzles that tell an initial story. The story will be easily followed, the meanings of the songs elusive.
We've gone in many new directions of style on the new album to better tell the story of the album. It's been enlightening process to us on many levels. We definitely have made an effort to mold the heavy parts of the album into something more frightening and real, more of an expression of reality than cartoon-like monster voices going through vocal processors. Heavy parts should be chilling and almost upsetting at first listen, I think. Spoken word elevating into something out of control.
Our method of recording the album is very different than Nocturne. We're trying to capture life with the album, including the live feel of the album. We've wanted to put more of the feeling of a live show in the album, that's the goal anyway..

If you would like to ask more questions, post them as a response to this blog, and I will answer them as time permits. Hours at the studio have been long.

NRE

I'm always going on about concepts like "the law of attraction" by which all of one's dreams can be attained by placing one's thoughts on the most ideal possible situation that can be imagined, and by faith and sheer will, focusing on a desired reality until it comes into being.

There have been times in my life I have doubted these ideas. But today -- as I worked on a track for the new Human Abstract album at the studio of Pink Floyd's Patrick Leonard at Sunset and La Brea in downtown Los Angeles, using the same equipment that artists like Madonna and Elton John had used before me; and afterwards driving to meet up with my fellow bandmembers in Santa Monica at a studio granted to us for free by the Red Bull company, and manned by Toby Wright, whose extensive roster of music includes Metallica's ...And Justice For All (an album I idolized as a kid) -- I couldn't help but feel like there must be something undeniable about the power of focus, and of not wavering from that focus.

I didn't grow up in LA, I don't have parents that have anything to do with the modern music business world, and I don't come from a rich family. I grew up in a lower-middle class family in the south, in Nashville, Tennessee, and remember thinking of places like Hollywood, California, and how far away and almost make-believe they seemed at the time. Now I meet friends and go to bars and shows there to blow off steam at the end of the day (when I'm not touring across North America with my band).

The point of my story is that life is truly what you make of it. Our only limitations are the ones we set for ourselves. Now I know this to be ultimately true, and I hope I can make everyone believe it for themselves, and get everything they ever dreamed out of life, as I strive daily to do.

It's not all roses these days... times are tense as the band pulls together for our sophomore release (the second of a band's albums very oftentimes being the most crucial of the entire career). We want to hold true to the roots of everything we've worked so hard to build up, and make a record that pushes the metal envelope to uncomfortable limits. And at the same time, we all want to branch out to a larger audience, each looking at it from our own perspectives.

I can't speak for the entire group, but from a vocalist's standpoint, I truly have a strong desire to send a message out so strong and loud, that anyone who hears must listen. I want to break into the mainstream audience, but not by wearing cheesy clothes and makeup, and not by selling my heart and soul to a clueless and out-of-touch major label in exchange for a short career, ending in ridicule and a nice tax write off for the record company. I want to get there by merit of knowing myself enough to know how connected I am with every living being, and in knowing this connection, writing music that not only speaks from my heart, but that speaks from theirs as well. I want to know the world, and I want to be known by the world, because we all want that. I want to inspire and be inspired by everyone I come in contact with. I want to travel everywhere and learn from everyone I meet.

I think its interesting that people talk trash about breaking into the mainstream like its a bad thing. Maybe those people say derogatory things about it because they are afraid that they could never merit such heights. If that's true, its a very sad irony, considering that each of us carries such a potential within ourselves, and the implications of how little those people must know themselves, let alone those around them, are enough to make one shudder at the thought.

NRE (Nathan Ells)

We're here at RedBull studios in beautiful santa monica, California, and we've got enough free red bull to kill an elephant. Our extreme caffeine intake has allowed us to get a great start on this album, yet occasionally one of us will get too cracked out and is unable to record without stepping outside for a nice green break (we LOVE the "outdoors"). Our producer Toby Wright (metallica, slayer, alice in chains) has established a great way to record this album, and we're really focusing on catching the live energy of the music on the recording. Just recently we've hit the point where we've established a no-redbull rule for anyone who needs to do any playing. An entire fridge full of that deliciousness is more tempting than we thought, and when you're sitting in front of an unlimited supply of it, one more redbull just always seems like a good idea.We're trying a new method of recording on this record that is entirely different from the way that Nocturne was recorded. This time we spent about two months solid, writing every day all day, and knew exactly what we were gonna be doing when we went into the studio.
All of us are recording our parts in a room together, but all of our amps and whatnot are set up in a different isolation booth that are filled with mics. Recording all of the songs in a group together instead of doing overdubs (recording parts independently) really pushes all of us to perform at the top of our game, and the songs have been rapidly changing by feeding off of each other and improvising lots of new parts. In the past week we've finished recording what were calling our demos, but really its just a rough way for us to be able to listen to the album as a whole, which then makes things like artwork and song titles just kind of fall into place. While the players are focusing on our parts and structures, nathan is in a isolation booth tracking vocals. Once the instrumentalists finish the rough recordings, we send them to him as we go along, and then once he sends back his part of it, the serious recording starts. Without the vocals, the rest of the band really can't get the entire feel for the songs. That's one major difference from Nocturne, we're really shaping the songs more around the vocals, instead of just writing music and then throwing screaming over it to conver the space. Overall were just focusing on pulling a very organic and real sound from this album. We're letting mistakes ride and giving room for more improvisation and feeling to be in the music. now i gotta go shoot up some red bull, don't wanna lose my focus..

-sean leonard, ivories