FIRST SINGLE “BLOOD ON MY HANDS” HITS RADIO ON JULY 14thOrem, Utah’s The Used, who have been tantalizing fans by previewing new songs during the Bamboozle and Bamboozle Left Festivals and during recent headlining dates, are proud to announce the release of their fourth studio album, entitled Artwork, on September 1, 2009. Starting July 21st a deluxe pre-order package of the release will be available only at theused.net.
Produced by Matt Squire, Artwork is a raw collection of eleven songs that not so delicately teeter the line between being aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single, “Blood On My Hands” premiered June 30th; it sold over five thousand copies in the first day and shot to #9 on the iTunes Alternative Chart. The track, which guitarist Quinn Allman describes as the song that “sums up everything about The Used” hits radio July 14th.
“Blood On My Hands” is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next. “Empty With You,” a track frontman Bert McCracken says is “about feeling empty and lonely but as long as you have someone who can feel lonely with you then everything’s okay,” surges with passion and gripping honesty, while “Kissing You Goodbye” balances the album’s predilection for propulsive rage with its quieter, piano-driven exploration of what it means to have someone to lean on.
“This record is more sincere,” Allman says. “It’s got a sound more reminiscent of the first record. Lyrically, it completely engulfs you and makes you feel safe but it’s all about feeling alone and empty and knowing there’s always a light. If you’re frustrated that much it means you care that much. The lyrics carry you through the record and you’re right with Bert and where he’s at. The music isn’t showing off. It’s just being what it is. I think the fans will appreciate all that.”
“This record is about coming together,” McCracken adds. “Whether it’s through positivity or negativity, it’s about coming together through anything.”
Artwork encapsulates the past eight years of this hard-touring band, which has made the rounds of Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution, Give It a Name, Reading, Leeds, and Taste of Chaos. The Used have sold more than two million albums in the U.S. Their previous release, 2007’s Lies For the Liars, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200.
