Our Most Anticipated heavy releases of 2018
[Pictured, L-R: The Amity Affliction, Black Veil Brides, Bring Me The Horizon, Senses Fail, I Prevail, Whitechapel; photos by: Tom Barnes, Jonathan Weiner, Ashley Osborn, Tyler Ross, Jeff Forney, Alex Morgan]
We can’t predict the future, but we can assure you that 2018 will bring plenty of awesome new music. We talked to some of your favorite artists, from Andy Biersack to Buddy Nielsen, who are in various stages of the recording process, to get the scoop on what’s to come next year.
Be sure to check back later in the week for our most anticipated alternative albums.
Read more: The 22 best music videos of 2017, chosen by the AP staff
AVATAR / Avatar Country
[Photo by: Johan Carlen]
EXPECT IT: Jan. 12, 2018
LABEL: eOne Music/Century Media
WE SPOKE TO: Johannes Michael Gustaf Eckerström (vocals)
WHAT’S DIFFERENT: We have, as a country, decided to finally open up our borders to Avatar Country and reveal the truth behind the band, our existence and our king. Therefore, this is the story, and a way of telling the story, that's never been done before.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: I would say that, compared to earlier releases, this was an even easier album to make. Since we're telling the story of our king and our country, all we had to do was to tell the truth and the vision was extremely clear from the very beginning. So, we used less time in the studio than ever before and still performed better than ever before. We really found true and great inspiration from our king.
IS IT MORE FEATHERS & FLESH OR HAIL THE APOCALYPSE? I think it's both and neither. Avatar as a group, and Avatar Country as a nation always strive to move forward, find new challenges and new angles on what we are creating, meaning there are never any real kickbacks to anything done in the past. The king looks forward, not backward. —Stevie James
BLACK VEIL BRIDES / VALE
[Photo by: Jonathan Weiner]
EXPECT IT: Jan. 12, 2018
LABEL: Republic
WE SPOKE TO: Andy Biersack (vocalist)
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: I don’t know [if] there was a challenge other than time. Trying to stay as focused on it when I was 19, when everything was kind of chaotic. Feldy [producer John Feldmann] was working the Blink-182 record; we were moving studios; I was touring behind Andy Black; Ashley [Purdy, bassist] no longer lives in L.A. and had moved by that point. We ended up building the record together, but in separate places. There wasn’t a big headache—we all knew what we wanted to do.
IS IT MORE WRETCHED AND DIVINE OR THE SELF-TITLED ALBUM? The other day, a song called “When They Call My Name” came out. It’s about my anxiety and how my wife, my family and my friends become that rock that support me. Tone-wise, that song is more in line with Wretched And Divine, but lyrically it’s darker and fits more in line with the fourth record. In this day and age that we live in, I don’t give a shit that people don’t listen to the whole album. I put just as much effort into the track listing and making sure the album looks good in order to create a really great package for somebody. That’s not people’s fault, that’s just the circumstances we’re in. There’s no reason for a young kid that’s just starting to listen to music right now [to own it physically] the singles are available to them in a way that they never were before. I wanted this record to be detail-oriented, and I think our fans in particular are very interested in the stories and the details that make up this record. I don’t think there was that much storytelling and fun in the last record, so I hope the fans appreciate that element on this one. —Jason Pettigrew
[Photo by: Ashley Osborn]
Bring Me The Horizon’s 2015 record, That’s The Spirit, changed their career entirely. By leaving their deathcore and metalcore roots behind for a more pop-oriented rock album, they reached stardom and a new fanbase to match. However, some longtime fans who began listening to BMTH back in 2006 when they released their first record, Count Your Blessings, were not happy about the genre change. But the band’s highly anticipated 2018 full-length just might unite new fans and old. Several months ago, keyboardist Jordan Fish told Daniel P Carter’s BBC Radio 1 Rock Show that the next release would not be pure pop. Instead, the band intend to blend aspects of metalcore and pop for a more fulfilling balance. —Taylor Markarian
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE: BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, CANE HILL
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE / TBA
[Photo by: Paul Harries]
EXPECT IT: Mid-May
LABEL: Search And Destroy/Spinefarm
WE SPOKE TO: Matthew Tuck (lead singer/rhythm guitarist)
WHAT’S DIFFERENT: There’s a lot different about this record, actually: the way we’ve approached, the way we’ve written it, the sonics used, the instrumentation that we’ve added. It feels like it’s a whole new beginning for the band, so it’s a very exciting time. We’ve really gone to town on electronic production, which is not something we’ve indulged in before, but we gave it a go on a few songs on early writing sessions, and it just brought a new piece of life on the creative process on how to write a song and to make heavy music sound—especially our band, a bit more contemporary—and it just snowballed. We added a lot more of that electronic production to our sound, which we’ve never done before and was, for the band, a completely different beast.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Same as always: just being creative, trying not to rewrite anything we’ve done in the past, just trying to break new ground creatively. That’s the gist of it, especially with a band of our history. We’re in album No. 6, and we really wanted to reinvent the band. So definitely the most difficult part of it was finding that balance between reinvention and keeping the band’s integral past still there.
IS IT MORE VENOM OR TEMPER TEMPER? It’s neither. It’s a massive step up in every department. Sonically, because we’ve incorporated this new production elements, it’s nothing like we’ve done before, which is amazing. We’re so happy with it. So, I can’t really compare it with anything in the past. It’s a whole new thing, which is great. —Stevie James
CANE HILL / TOO FAR GONE
[Photo by: Rise Records]
EXPECT IT: Jan. 19, 2018
LABEL: Rise Records
WE SPOKE TO: Elijah Witt (vocals)
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: I think we took the polarities of Smile and just kind of extended them past the boundaries that we had set for ourselves. So if we had a heavy song on Smile, we’ve got heavier songs on the new album—the softer side of us. We’ve stretched that into being softer, even, or more experimental. The content of the songs is a lot more honest and a lot more deeply rooted in how we genuinely feel about ourselves. I think Smile was extrospective, and the new album is far more introspective as far as how we feel about ourselves as people, and less about worldly problems that we’ve seen. I think only one song touches on religion. We’ve tried to kind of stay away from that side of us on this because the way I see it lyrically, is that I’d like to keep myself talking about myself because it’s what I know best. I don’t like the idea of overstepping my boundaries anymore and trying to be a little bit pushy with what I’m saying. It seems like I have a better grasp on myself than I do on the world. Back then, I had this opinion of myself that I knew what I was talking about, and I realized over the past year and a half that I really had no idea, and I was a bit bold with my lyrics.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Writing the songs, honestly. We’re hard on ourselves. James [Barnett, guitarist], will sit there for three hours trying to work on one riff if no one’s there to tell him that he should stop and choose one. I think one of the hardest parts was getting the material down in a manner that was efficient [and] that we were all happy with. Everybody in the band is a perfectionist, and sometimes that is a big burden. —Taylor Markarian
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE: DON BROCO, GOOD TIGER
