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, "Lost", was released on September 19, 2011 following the delay of the third single, "Calling", which will be released in October 2011 with an accompanying 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. Two re-recorded demos, "Painting Shadows" and "Unhateable", were both included on special editions of the album and as b-side tracks, depending on the region of release.
Background
Following the release of their self-titled debut 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.[1][2]
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[3], though it was rumored to be delayed in early August to a possible November 7 release date.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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."[7]
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!"[8] 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, Stronger, 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 2008 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 no studio version of the song was released.[1]
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 delayed until after the release of the album due to delays in the video shoot.[4] The single had actually appeared a few months prior during a live performance on July 11, 2011 as an encore song.[7] Because "Calling" was delayed as a single, the second single released was actually "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 in a series of teasers to be released every Monday until the album is 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.[1] 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.[3] Following the release of the album, the band began a UK tour, The SlaughTour 2011, beginning November 8th and playing each day until November 13th, in venues including: Southampton, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Newcastle, and Manchester.[4] Supporting acts for the UK tour include Marionette, Machinae Supremacy, and Overload.[8][1] The tour was delayed to December 2011, with the same locations.
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."[10] 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."[9]
Track listing
All tracks are written and performed by Dead by April and Pontus Hjelm
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Dreaming"
4:15
2.
"Real & True"
3:06
3.
"Within My Heart"
3:25
4.
"More Than Yesterday"
3:30
5.
"Calling"
3:37
6.
"Two Faced"
3:04
7.
"Crossroads"
2:56
8.
"Incomparable"
3:23
9.
"Too Late"
3:14
10.
"You Should Know"
3:46
11.
"When You Wake Up"
3:44
12.
"Lost"
3:34
13.
"Last Goodbye"
3:19
Total length:
44:53
Japanese bonus track
No.
Title
Length
14.
"Unhateable"
3:00
iTunes bonus track
No.
Title
Length
14.
"Painting Shadows"
3:34
Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks
No.
Title
Length
14.
"Holding On"
3:02
15.
"Away"
4:10
Singles and videos
Untitled
Within My Heart
Within My Heart
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Within My Heart"
3:24
2.
"Two Faced"
3:04
3.
"Unhateable"
3:00
Untitled
Calling
Calling
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Calling (Album version)"
3:36
2.
"Calling (Radio Edit)"
3:34
3.
"Within My Heart (Video Violence)"
3:21
Untitled
Lost
Lost
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Lost"
3:35
2.
"Promise Me (Heavier Mix)"
3:32
Personnel
Credits for Incomparable adapted from Allmusic.[11]
^ abcGabriel Pio (September 22, 2011). "Dead by April - Incomparable". The New Review. Retrieved September 24, 2011. Cite error: The named reference "Dead by April - Incomparable" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
