It’s barely been a year and a half since As It Is released their sophomore album okay., but now it looks like fans should expect some new tunes before we say good-bye to the dog days of summer. On Thursday (May 17), the British band formally announced the release of their third studio album. Titled The Great Depression, the record is due out Aug. 10 through Fearless Records. Pre-orders for the new album are available on As It Is’ website.
In conjunction with the new album’s announcement, the band released the music video for its first single, “The Wounded World” which introduces their longtime followers to a brand new era for the quartet. Watch the music video for “The Wounded World” above.
For some, the new darker image may or may not come as a surprise. At the end of April, photos of frontman Patty Walters sporting black hair, the emo fringe, massive eyeliner, and black nail polish surfaced on social media. While this elated some, it kind of confused others. The new look though, has a direct connection with the band’s goal with this album; to shine a light on mental illness.
“This record started…as an exploration of the question ‘Do we as a society have a fetish for mental illness?” begins Walters’ explanation behind the impending release.
“Do we romanticize or glorify a sickness? It was important for me to do some soul-searching around that question. Are we part of a scene that actually does more damage than good in terms of the way we talk about these issues?”
Guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Langford-Biss reveals that there was one major event in the last year that helped shape the band’s new melancholy sound; the death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. “What happened with Chester really shaped the direction of the story.”
Walters adds: “[The album] took a different turn when Chester Bennington took his own life.”
The Great Depression will be the follow-up to 2017’s sophomore effort okay.
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