Interview by Kris Peters
Last year's album Blackout by metal outfit From Ashes To New was a groundbreaker for the band, in terms that it encompassed sonic variations from each of their albums and spewed them forth with a fresh, new dynamic that more or less signalled the full coming of age of the popular band.
While success of that magnitude generally guarantees the release of a Deluxe version of the album with bonus cuts and/or remixes, more often than not such a move reeks of merely another means to get hard-earned cash from the band's fan base but every so often the obligatory follow-up hits the mark - and then some.
Such is the case with Blackout Deluxe, which is set to land on June 7. More than just an afterthought triggered by success, this Deluxe album was actually discussed in the lead-up to the original album, with some songs earmarked for such a release even before Blackout was completed.
Blackout Deluxe will consist of the original album's twelve tracks, plus six bonus tracks featuring artists such as Aaron Pauley from Of Mice & Men, Chrissy Costanza from Against The Current, Yelawolf and more. It is more an expansion of the original release rather than an afterthought, with one surprise bonus track featuring guitarist Matt Brandyberry making his debut vocal performance.
Brandyberry joined HEAVY to go into Blackout Deluxe in more detail.
We start by asking if he gets as excited about releasing a Deluxe album as he did the original album.
"We've done some deluxe's in the past," he measured, "and I'm not sure that I've had the same excitement levels. But I can say for this one, yes, because there is a track that's not released yet, and it's something that our fans are probably not expecting."
We ask about the response to Blackout from fans.
"I think it was above what I was expecting," he replied. "It's been phenomenal. Our ticket sales are at an all-time high, our merch, VIP, album, everything. We're cruising, man, things are going good."
Along those lines, we question Brandyberry on how a band measures the success of an album in the modern age of music.
"I think it's overall streaming," he nodded. "Some of that doesn't matter, I don't think, because you'll see an artist or a band that streams really high, but then they don't have anyone at their shows, and sometimes you can see the exact opposite. I think to know if what you're doing is working is if people are all-encompassing. Are people wearing your new merch? Are they listening to your new music? Are they going to your shows? It's kind of all of it together."
In the full interview, Matt runs us through each of the six bonus tracks individually, talks about the guest artist on each and why, the genesis of these songs in relation to the original Blackout, the song which features his vocals, their current tour and upcoming shows, new album conversations, giving the fans what they want musically and more.