Whether you've been a fan of Haste the Day since the band's inception in 2001 or you just discovered them while wandering around last year's Vans Warped Tour, you need to remember one thing – with the release of "Dreamer", the band's 4th full length album on Solid State Records, what you thought you knew about Haste the Day is no longer relevant.
Over the last seven years Haste the Day have established a name for themselves touring across the country and selling over 200,000 records stateside. With each release, from their debut album "Burning Bridges" to their last record "Pressure the Hinges", Haste the Day have refined, framed and continued to progress forward as musicians crafting their own unique sound. However, on "Dreamer", Haste the Day have crafted their most experimental and triumphant record to date.
Produced by Andreas Magnusson (Black Dahlia Murder, Becoming the Archetype, etc) and recorded at Azmyth Studios, "Dreamer" finds the band traversing darker territory and engaging themes that were more muted on the bands past records.
"Andreas handled all of the production, mixing and helped structure these songs," states Haste the Day bassist Mike Murphy. While Magnusson handled the technical aspect of the recording, the creation of the album was a collaborative effort. Vocalist Stephen Keech, who made his debut on the band's third record "Pressure the Hinges" after the departure of original vocalist Jimmy Ryan, along side backing vocalist and guitarist Brennan Chaulk, contributed the bulk of the lyric and a significant portion of the music writing for "Dreamer". However, each member's fingerprint and personality are all over the new record. Whether Keech, Murphy, Chaulk and drummer Devin Chaulk, the credit for the uniqueness of "Dreamer" truly extends to each member of the band.
Songs like "Sons of a Fallen Nation", "Babylon" and "Porcelain" are fine examples of the sound Haste the Day is known for. But it's tracks like "Labyrinth", a grandiose and ominous song unlike anything the band has recorded before, "Resolve" and "Autumn", a track reshaped and rerecorded from the bands earliest recording, that demonstrate the growth of the Indiana based band. As a complete picture, "Dreamer" preserves the band's style but it captures and highlights the gamble of stepping out into unconquered territory.
"While we were recording I'd stand outside the studio and ask the guys, 'Is this working? How are all of these songs going to fit together?'" continues the bassist regarding some of the risks they took musically on this outing. "It really was a different approach for us."
Since the release of the band's previous record "Pressure the Hinges", Haste the Day experienced what members of the band call one of the most trying things they'd ever faced – the departure of guitarist Jason Barnes. "That was one of the hardest things we'd gone through as a band," states the bassist. "But it was through that experience that we matured and it forced us to really decide who we were and what our mission was not only as a band but as Christians as well."
"Dreamer" will be released in October 2008 just as the band will be joining the Solid State fall tour where they will share the stage with Norma Jean, The Showdown and other upcoming bands from the label. After that they will travel to Australia for the second time playing support for Scary Kids Scaring Kids.
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