Story of the Year Returns with Tear Me To Pieces

The ‘2000s was a great decade for music with a lot of great bands. Unfortunately, I have to admit that with the exception of a few artists, most of these bands flew under my radar. It has only been in the last couple of years that I started discovering some of these bands such as My Chemical Romance, The Used, The Killers and others. Another one of these bands, which I saw for the first time last year, is Story of the Year.

It is impossible to open an emo playlist that doesn’t include “Until The Day I Die” from Story of the Year’s 2003 debut album Page Avenue. Over the next decade, Dan Marsala (lead vocals), Ryan Phillips (lead guitar), Adam Russell (bass guitar), and Josh Wills (drums) released three more albums, In the Wake of Determination (2005), The Black Swan (2008), and The Constant (2010).

The band’s last album was Wolves in 2017. Now they are back with their first album in six years. Tear Me to Pieces is due to be released on Friday, March 10th and the band is stoked for its release. “I think this album will be a defining moment in our career,” says guitarist Ryan Phillips. “When our fans hear it, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, shit, these dudes are ready to go!’ This is the sound of a band putting everything into it. If a new band came out with this album, I’d be texting everyone in my band about it.”

I have to agree with Phillips. This is the best album I have listened to so far in 2023. It is solid from start to finish. Marsala does what he does best, soaring melodies with just the right amount of screams thrown in to strategically change the dynamics.

“Real Life” is my favourite track on Tear Me to Pieces. “Real Life is a return to form for Story Of The Year,” says Marsala. “It evokes the same emotion and energy of Page Avenue but with a brand new and exciting feel. It’s a song about the constant struggle of making a relationship work. The ups and downs of being in love. Not every day is full of sunshine, but if you fight through the pain together, you can make it out alive with a smile on your face.”

Speaking about the title track, Phillips says, “Perhaps more than any song on the record, ‘Tear Me to Pieces’ checks all of the boxes in regards to what best defines Story Of The Year – anthemic pop choruses balanced with guttural screams, high energy punk rock inspired drums, dark-ish lyrics, and aggressive guitar riffs. This one song runs the gamut.”

“2005 is a journey into the heart of Story of the Year”, shares vocalist Dan Marsala. “It’s a story about youth and falling in love with music. It’s a reminder of how far we’ve come as a band and how lucky I am to still be playing music with my best friends. This song makes me excited for the future of SOTY.”

“’War’ is about a person hellbent on getting revenge and ultimately finding no peace in the process,” shares guitarist Ryan Phillips “Lyrics like ‘this game will kill you in your sleep’ directly refers to the mental toll of trying to get revenge on another person: it winds up consuming you and ultimately destroys any your life and any chance of a present, balanced existence.”

Those waiting the past six years for a new studio album from the band will not be disappointed. I don’t know if Story of the Year will ever surpass Page Avenue but Tear Me To Pieces is not far behind.

Story Of The Year will be hosting a sold-out hometown release show for Tear Me To Pieces on March 11 at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO. For more details and tickets to all shows, visit http://www.storyoftheyear.net/tour

Follow Story of The Year:
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Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

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