''Compassion'' is the second full-length studio album by American post-hardcore band Royal Coda. It was released on November 7, 2019, on

Blue Swan Records William Swan (born December 5, 1985) is an American songwriter and musician born in Sacramento, California. He is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the American post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance and as the founder and owner ...

, and serves as a follow-up to their self-titled debut studio album. It is the band's first album to feature guitarist Will Swan and was produced by

Kris Crummett Kris Crummett is an American record producer and owner of the Interlace Audio in Portland, Oregon. Crummett started recording in 2002. He has worked with many notable indie music record labels, including Rise Records, Epitaph Records, Fearless Re ...

. The lead single, "Numbing Agent", was released on September 12, 2019 with two more singles following; "Becoming the Memory" and "The Innocence Of". In support of the album, the band toured as support on Hail the Sun's The Mental Knife US Tour in September and October 2019 and was scheduled to tour as support

Dance Gavin Dance Dance Gavin Dance is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 2005. The band currently consists of vocalists Jon Mess and Tilian Pearson, lead guitarist Will Swan, rhythm guitarist Andrew Wells, and drummer Matthew Mingus. ...

's 2020 spring tour, but was later cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Background

After wanting to pursue a musical project that would involve various different musicians, American musician Sergio Medina, formerly of Stolas and Sianvar, formed Royal Coda with former

A Lot Like Birds A Lot Like Birds was an American post-hardcore band formed in Sacramento, California. The band released four albums and received considerable media attention from music sites. Since the release of 2011's ''Conversation Piece'', A Lot Like Birds ...

drummer Joseph Arrington and former A Lot Like Birds and

vocalist

Kurt Travis Kurt Travis (born January 16, 1987) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter from Sacramento, California. He is currently part of the post-hardcore bands Royal Coda and Push Over and the math rock duo Gold Necklace, and was formerly a ...

. The band released their self-titled debut studio album on April 27, 2018, on

. In 2018, the band toured as support on American musician

Tilian Tilian Pearson (born July 12, 1987), also known mononymously as Tilian, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer born in Clearwater, Florida. Since 2012 he has been the third clean vocalist for the post-hardcore band Danc ...

's US solo tour in August and September, recruiting

The Fall of Troy The Fall of Troy is an American rock band from Mukilteo, Washington. The band is a trio consisting of Thomas Erak (guitars, vocals, keyboards), Andrew Forsman (drums, percussion) and Tim Ward (bass, screamed vocals) who was later replaced by Fr ...

frontman

Thomas Erak Thomas Joseph Erak is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Mukilteo, Washington, best known as a founding member of the Seattle-based progressive mathcore band, The Fall of Troy and as a member of the band Just Like Vinyl; as well ...

and former Dance Gavin Dance bass guitarist Jason Ellis as touring members. The following year, the group embarked on their first headlining US tour in March with support from American rock band Body Thief.

Recording

In June 2018, two months after the release of Royal Coda's debut studio album, drummer Joseph Arrington revealed that writing sessions for their second studio album had begun with guitarist Sergio Medina. Recording sessions took place at VuDu Recording Sessions in Long Island, New York with vocal production from Mike Watts and Dominic Nastasi, and at Interlace Audio in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

with producer

. It is the band's first studio album to feature Will Swan on guitar. The album features guest features from Donovan Melero (of Hail the Sun and Nova Charisma), Carlo Marquez (formerly of Stolas), and Kayla Connick.

Promotion

On September 12, 2019, Royal Coda released the album's lead single, "Numbing Agent", accompanied with its music video and the album's announcement. The second single, "Becoming the Memory", was released to digital download and streaming on September 30. "The Innocence Of" was released as the third single on October 15. In support of ''Compassion'', the group toured as a supporting act on American post-hardcore band Hail the Sun's The Mental Knife Tour, in North America, from September 13 to October 13, 2019, along with

Strawberry Girls Strawberry Girls is an American rock band from Salinas, California, formed in 2011. The band is currently composed of guitarist Zac Garren, drummer Ben Rosett, and bassist Ian Jennings. All three members are multi-instrumentalists and record pro ...

and VIS. The group was set to tour as support on

's US headlining 2020 tour from March 12 to April 25, but the tour was later cancelled due to the

Track listing

Credits

;Royal Coda *Sergio Medina – guitar, programming *

– lead vocals *Joseph Arrington – drums, percussion * Will Swan – guitar, bass guitar ;Additional personnel *

– producer, mixing and mastering engineer *Mike Watts- vocal production (on tracks 2–4) *Dominic Nastasi – production (on tracks 2–4) *Carlo Marquez – composer (on track 2) * Donovan Melero – guest vocals (on track 7), bass guitar (on tracks 2–6) *Kayla Connick – guest vocals (on track 8) *Lewes Herriot – cover art

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Royal Coda albums Blue Swan Records albums