The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die have announced that their fourth studio album, Illusory Walls, out digitally October 8 and on vinyl December 3 via Epitaph Records. Illusory Walls comes four years after the Connecticut-bred collective’s 2017 release Always Foreign.
Taken from the unlikely source of the video game Dark Souls, the album’s title; Illusory Walls “refers to a hidden surface that seems to prevent entry, but upon inspection is nothing more than a visual illusion,” vocalist/guitarist David F. Bello.
The process for Illusory Walls took about a year, written and recorded remotely between the bear-filled woods of Connecticut & the streets of quarantined Philadelphia – a first for the band – due to the coronavirus pandemic. The extra time made for a more relaxed, comfortable experience in the studio, allowing the band to realize the full extent of their musical and thematic aspirations.
Co-produced by vocalist/guitarist Chris Teti alongside his studio partner Greg Thomas (END, Misery Signals), Illusory Walls takes on the weight of human existence while it’s buckling under the pressure of today’s near-dystopian society. Personal anxieties and political struggles collide with a series of portentous, apocalyptic, and dramatic tunes, resulting in some of the darkest music the band has made since forming in 2009. For while Illusory Walls certainly draws you deep into the world of the band, it also takes you deeper into your own, into crevices of your mind and life that you perhaps hadn’t encountered or weren’t able to explore before.
Today, the band shares the first glimpse at their forthcoming record with “Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance,” a title also taken from Dark Souls in reference to a specific gameplay mechanic in which the player must seek revenge on a character for compromising their home base. Lyrically, the song questions the effects on mankind when massive corporations take over all aspects of our lives.
CHECK OUT “INVADING THE WORLD OF THE GUILTY AS A SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE”
ILLUSORY WALLS TRACKLIST
- Afraid to Die
- Queen Sophie for President
- Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance
- Blank // Drone
- We Saw Birds through the Hole in the Ceiling
- Died in the Prison of the Holy Office
- Your Brain is a Rubbermaid
- Blank // Worker
- Trouble
- Infinite Josh
- Fewer Afraid
The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die is David F. Bello (vocals/guitar), Chris Teti (guitar/vocals/bass/
