Some bands are literally not doing anything with complete albums until vinyl production is more or less secured. Conjurer for example have their second album recorded, mixed, artwork done, singles picked out along with their order of release, and promotion campaign bagged. It's been sorted for months, but they're not pulling the trigger until they know everything can go ahead without a hitch.
I loved that ACB album but honestly haven't gone back anytime recently. The He Is Legend album is really good.
I was also quite taken aback by how well received this track is, given how it sounds more like Erase Me than expect. But it is also very good. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
well it's definitely on the heavier side of the Erase Me songs, which I feel like generally people were fine with? Most just really hate the more radio rock songs on Erase Me, there are some songs on it that even people who don't generally like Erase Me are like "alright yea that one is ok". So taking that side of it and just tweaking it a bit, yea I can see why people would like the song still. Of course I'm not trying to generalize all listeners, there are definitely some people here even that absolutely despise all of Erase Me lol
Can't say I won't appreciate having a vinyl arrive in time for release, but would not mind it releasing earlier. If they are trying to launch it all at once for combined weekly sales, I understand that too. Regardless, I'm super hyped and both songs have been great.
I don't think they're thinking about EOTY list placement, but a January release date with a 5-month rollout before that makes it seem a lot less likely they'll be remembered in December 2022.
Yeah, I don't think they care either. Just something I was thinking about. It's probably a good thing for first week sales, given how dead that time period usually is.
I like both of these songs well enough, and they definitely feel like a better direction for them (to my tastes at least) than Erase Me was, however I’m not in love with how dark and muddy the production is sounding to me, feels like it’s seriously lacking clarity/breathing room
end of the year lists hardly drive any new listeners to an artist unless theyre in the top 20 at any small number of extremely popular publications that wouldn't cover underoath in the first place. unless you're placing high up at like rolling stone or pitchfork, being on an end of the year list isn't going to boost your numbers nearly as much as you'd think.
Yeah, I don't think it matters much in any real sense for the band. It was just something I was thinking about, especially in the context of this community where ranking is such a big part of the culture. It's interesting to think about the way things are remembered more broadly, and I think those rankings tend to be more relevant to people here than initial sales or a chart debut, unless it's celebrating a particularly performance by a record from one of "our" bands. I know I personally do a ton of digging through most of the midyear and at the end of the year lists here for new/missed things, but this is obviously one I won't miss.
I get it because I used to be the same way but it’s massively died down for me and a lot of the people I used to get excited about lists with and exchange them with aren’t really into it anymore either
I like when an artist puts out a record in the first week or two of the year like that. Always feels like no one is really putting out music around that time so it gives me a chance to really sit with it without being distracted by tons of new stuff. If anything it gives me a stronger association with the record and might actually help when it comes time to do EOTY stuff, because my top criteria when ranking is usually “what will I always associate most with this year” my current aoty came out January 8th haha
Does having strong first week numbers really matter much anymore for a band that seems to not be going for radio anymore, is not beholden to a record company, and is in a genre that could only benefit from basically having a second release date to raise listenership? 5 months ultimately isnt a long time but it just feels silly.
then of course they care about first week sales that’s how labels make their money. im sure it came down to fearless on whether or not to split digital and physical releases