'' Elite ''is the third studio album by American
metalcore
Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...
band
Within the Ruins
Within the Ruins is an American metalcore band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts in 2003. The group currently consists of guitarist Joe Cocchi, drummer Kevin McGuill, bassist Paolo Galang, and vocalist Steve Tinnon. They are currently signed to ...
. The album sold 3,750 copies in its first week (roughly double what ''
Invade'' sold) and saw
Within the Ruins
Within the Ruins is an American metalcore band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts in 2003. The group currently consists of guitarist Joe Cocchi, drummer Kevin McGuill, bassist Paolo Galang, and vocalist Steve Tinnon. They are currently signed to ...
' first appearance on the
''Billboard'' 200, peaking at the 133 spot. It is their first release for
eOne Music
MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had b ...
and
Good Fight Music
Good Fight Entertainment is a business conglomerate that was founded in 2010. The company consists of a record label, band management, sports management, a clothing line and an art studio. Good Fight was founded by Paul Conroy and Carl Severson wh ...
following their departure from
Victory Records
Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...
in 2012.
It is also their first release featuring only one guitarist, following the departure of Jay Van Schelt in 2012. The track list for the album was revealed on February 14, 2013.
To promote the album, the song "Feeding Frenzy" was released as a single on February 4, 2013, with an accompanying
lyric video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
. The video was published to the band's YouTube channel on the same day.
On February 26, the same day the album was released, a music video directed by Kevin J. Custer was released for "Feeding Frenzy". On July 22, a music video was released for the song "New Holy War" and published to the band's YouTube channel.
Background and recording
On March 20, 2012,
Victory Records
Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...
posted a pre-production update video to their YouTube featuring Cocchi and McGuill working on demos for their upcoming album, which would become ''Elite''.
The band would begin to record the album during the spring of 2012 at Dreadcore Studios in
White Lake Township, Michigan
White Lake Charter Township is a charter township of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Together with its two unincorporated communities, the township makes up part of the Detroit metropolitan area outskirts. As of the 2010 census, the ...
working again with Joshua Wickman, who produced their second album ''
Invade'' at Dreadcore in 2011.
They published a studio update video to their YouTube channel on May 8, 2012, chronicling their progress. The band would post a follow-up video on June 22, 2012.
In an interview with music news website ''MindEqualsBlown'' in 2013, Cocchi spoke about the benefits of returning to a familiar studio and working with a familiar producer:
"When we did ''Invade'', Josh was still learning," tells Cocchi of the five weeks the band spent with Wickman working on ''Elite''. "We were learning new ways and figuring things out that made the recording f ''Invade''easier for us and made it come out better. So when we got to do ''Elite'', we already had a system with Josh. We knew how we were going to do everything. We still experimented and tried out different shit. It just flowed. We had a better schedule. When we did ''Invade'', we would track for six hours and then go out and party and grill. Then we would wake up, record whatever, then repeat. I think it's funny because it shows it has that feel to it, to me at least. When we did ''Elite'', we were like, okay, schedule. We'll go to the gym at 8 in the morning with Josh, then go eat breakfast, then we would start tracking at 10. Then go to 8 o'clock n the evening I think we were a little bit more responsible and professional if you will when doing this album."
Cocchi also noted that the band spent considerably more time on the lyrical content and vocals on ''Elite'' than they had on ''
Invade''. Where in the past only a "few days" were left to record vocals, on ''Elite'' the vocal engineering received as much attention as the drums and guitars. Speaking more on ''Invade'', Cocchi noted that on ''Elite'' the guitar riffs were much more varied:
"All the songs are in different keys with this album, where with ''Invade'' a lot of the riffs and parts of songs were interchangeable in a way. It all definitely sounded kind of the same after awhile, I'll admit that."
Within the Ruins
Within the Ruins is an American metalcore band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts in 2003. The group currently consists of guitarist Joe Cocchi, drummer Kevin McGuill, bassist Paolo Galang, and vocalist Steve Tinnon. They are currently signed to ...
signed for
eOne Music
MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had b ...
and
Good Fight Music
Good Fight Entertainment is a business conglomerate that was founded in 2010. The company consists of a record label, band management, sports management, a clothing line and an art studio. Good Fight was founded by Paul Conroy and Carl Severson wh ...
in November 2012.
Speaking on their departure from
Victory Records
Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...
, and progress towards ''Elite'', guitarist Joe Cocchi stated:
"This is extremely exciting for us. We're proud to be a part of this new family. We look forward to growing as a band with eOne / Goodfight now behind us, and we're thankful to be working with people who care.The new album is complete! It's also completely different so we're very excited for our fans to hear it."
Track listing
Notes
* The instrumental "Dreamland" features audio clips of
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's famous inauguration speech during his
First inauguration.
Personnel
;Within the Ruins
* Tim Goergen – vocals
* Joe Cocchi – guitars, production
* Andrew Tate – bass
* Kevin McGuill – drums
;Additional personnel
* Josh Wickman – production, engineering, mixing
* Leah Urbano and Scott Lee – management
* Nanouk De Meijere and Eric Powell – booking
* Cameron Gray – illustrations, artwork, design
* Jeremy Saffer – photography
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2013 albums
Within the Ruins albums
E1 Music albums