''Hebrews'' is the sixth full-length studio album by American rock band

Say Anything Say Anything may refer to: Film and television * '' Say Anything...'', a 1989 American film by Cameron Crowe * "Say Anything" (''BoJack Horseman''), a television episode Music * Say Anything (band), an American rock band ** ''Say Anything'' (alb ...

. On March 25, the band announced via their label,

Equal Vision Records Equal Vision Records is an independent record label based in Albany, New York. It was founded in the early 1990s by Ray Cappo, singer for the punk bands Youth of Today, Shelter, and Better Than a Thousand. The label originally existed solely to ...

' blog that their new record entitled ''Hebrews'', titled after front-man

Max Bemis Maxim Adam Bemis (born April 6, 1984) () is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, primary composer and primary lyricist of the band, Say Anything (band), Say Anything, before their hiatus in 2018. He sang alongside C ...

's Jewish lineage, would be released on June 10, 2014. Early on in the recording process, it was announced that the album would be self-produced by Bemis, and engineered by

Garron DuPree Garron DuPree (born December 4, 1989) is a bass guitarist and recording engineer from Texas. DuPree began his career as a professional musician in 2005 at the age of 15 as the bassist for the group Eisley, and became the bassist for Say Anything in ...

. On April 24, the first single from the album was released, titled "Six Six Six" via billboard.com, along with more details concerning the ambitious production and release of the upcoming record. Most notably, front-man

confessed that the forthcoming album features production that had been unprecedented to the band - the album features no guitars, an instead replaces traditional guitar-based riffs with orchestral string arrangements while maintaining the punk-influenced drive that has been attributed to the band in the past. "Judas Decapitation" was released to radio on May 19, 2014. In October, the group went on a headlining Australian tour.

Chris Conley Christopher Lane Conley (born February 29, 1980) is an American musician who is the lead-singer/rhythm guitarist of the rock band Saves the Day. He was the only remaining original member as well as major artistic contributor throughout their car ...

Saves the Day Saves the Day is an American Rock music, rock band from Princeton, New Jersey, formed in 1997. The band currently consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Conley, guitarist Arun Bali, and bassist Rodrigo Palma. After forming under the nam ...

served as guitarist and backing vocalist.

Background

In an interview with ''Billboard'' magazine in December 2013, Bemis spoke about the new record, divulging that the album was "about 80 percent done." Furthermore, Bemis spoke covertly about the new record, claiming it to be "kind of a big shift for us in certain ways...some really crazy arrangements." Bemis went on to speak of the recording process with engineer

, saying they "have been able to spread out the recording over the course of five months or so. It's definitely giving me a lot of time to tastefully arrange things that I wouldn't have necessarily had the time to do..." The record features several guest appearances by the singers of various

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

, punk rock and

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

bands:

Andy Hull John Andrew Hull (born November 7, 1986) is an American singer, musician and songwriter. He serves as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Manchester Orchestra. He also has a side project, Right Away ...

Manchester Orchestra Manchester Orchestra is an American indie rock band from Atlanta formed in 2004. The group is composed of rhythm guitarist-singer-songwriter Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, bassist Andy Prince and drummer Tim Very. Former drummer Jer ...

, Aaron Weiss of

mewithoutyou MewithoutYou, usually styled as mewithoutYou, was an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band consisted of Aaron Weiss (vocals), Michael Weiss and Brandon Beaver (guitars), Greg Jehanian (bass guitar), and Rickie Mazzotta ( ...

, Tom DeLonge of

Blink 182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their sound has ...

and

Angels & Airwaves Angels & Airwaves (also written as Angels and Airwaves; stylized and abbreviated as ΛVΛ) is an American rock band, comprising Tom DeLonge (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), David Kennedy (guitars, keyboards), Ilan Rubin (drums, keyboards, b ...

, Keith Buckley of

Every Time I Die Every Time I Die was an American metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. For most of the band's career, the line-up was centred on brothers Keith (vocals) and Jordan Buckley (guitar), as well as rhythm guitarist Andy Williams wi ...

, Matt Pryor of

The Get Up Kids The Get Up Kids are an American rock band from Olathe, Kansas. Formed in 1995, the band was a major player in the mid-1990s Midwest emo scene, otherwise known as the " second wave" of emo music. Their second album ''Something to Write Home About' ...

and

Reggie and the Full Effect Reggie and the Full Effect is an American rock band, the solo project of James Dewees, the former keyboardist for The Get Up Kids. It has released seven full-length albums, the latest in 2018, and has toured with various associated acts in their pr ...

, Gareth and Kim Campesinos of

Los Campesinos! Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales, formed in early 2006 at Cardiff University. Though the band formed in Wales, none of the members are Welsh. The band has gone through several lineup changes during their car ...

Bob Nanna Bob Nanna (born June 14, 1975) is an American musician best known as the singer and guitarist for the bands Braid (band), Braid and Hey Mercedes. Nanna also currently performs as part of the band Lifted Bells, as well as a solo project The City ...

Braid A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...

, Jon Simmons of

Balance and Composure Balance and Composure was an American alternative rock band from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. They formed in the winter of 2007, after the breakup of two local Doylestown bands. The band's music was often suggested having similarities to Title Fig ...

, Brian Sella of

The Front Bottoms The Front Bottoms are an American rock band from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Sella and drummer Mat Uychich. History The group formed in 2006 in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. In August 2007, after B ...

and

Jeremy Bolm Jeremy Bolm is an American vocalist, record label owner, music producer and writer. In his music career, he is most known for being the full-time vocalist of the post-hardcore band Touché Amoré. He has also performed with the part-time bands Thr ...

Touché Amoré Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. Among other ...

. Additionally, the record features all the members of the band

Eisley Eisley is an American rock band from Tyler, Texas, originally consisting of siblings Sherri DuPree, Chauntelle DuPree, Stacy DuPree and Weston DuPree. Remaining recording/touring members are their sister Sherri DuPree-Bemis and their cousin Garro ...

: Bemis' wife,

Sherri DuPree-Bemis Sherri DuPree-Bemis (born December 3, 1983) is a musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist from Texas. She is one of the primary vocalists and songwriters for the band Eisley. Dupree-Bemis is also a guest vocalist for many other projects, as w ...

, her sisters Stacy and Chauntelle, brother Weston and cousin Garron. Bemis' brother-in-law,

Mutemath Mutemath (sometimes styled as MuteMath or MUTEMATH) is an American alternative rock project founded by American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Paul Meany. Originally co-founded as a band with Darren King in 2002, Me ...

drummer Darren King, also appears on the record.

Reception

Hebrews received an 83 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating universal acclaim. Absolutepunk awarded the album an 88%, noting that it "isn't the return to form listeners may have been expecting from Say Anything; instead it's something entirely better." Stephanie Vaughan of Substream Magazine was highly positive, commending the album on pushing boundaries both lyrically and aesthetically.

Track listing

All songs recorded by Say Anything.

Personnel

;Say Anything *

- Vocals, songwriting & arrangement *Reed Murray - Drums *

- Bass Guitar, upright bass ;Guest Musicians *Jeremy Larson - Cello, viola, violin *Sarah Reno - French Horn *Joel Adair - Trumpet *Sam Reyes - Tuba *Unknown - Fiddle *

Darren King Darren Charles King (born June 25, 1982) is an American drummer and percussionist, best known for his association with the band Mutemath until his permanent departure in August 2017. He played the drums for the New Orleans-based Christian rock ba ...

- Drums *

Weston DuPree Eisley is an American rock band from Tyler, Texas, originally consisting of siblings Sherri DuPree, Chauntelle DuPree, Stacy DuPree and Weston DuPree. Remaining recording/touring members are their sister Sherri DuPree-Bemis and their cousin Garro ...

- Drums ;Guest Vocalists *

Keith Buckley Keith Buckley (born November 19, 1979) is an American singer, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the now defunct hardcore punk band Every Time I Die and the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things. He is also a published author. Earl ...

* Gareth Campesinos * Kim Campesinos *

* Tom DeLonge * Chauntelle DuPree-D’Agostino *Christie DuPree *

Stacy King Stacy King is an American former character actress of the 1960s. Red-haired and tall, King had guest-starring roles in ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.''The show (and CBS) renders the title as ''Go ...

* Matt Pryor *

Brian Sella The Front Bottoms are an American rock band from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Sella and drummer Mat Uychich. History The group formed in 2006 in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. In August 2007, after ...

Jon Simmons Jon Simmons is an American film and television talent manager and acting coach operating out of Los Angeles. He is the co-founder of Simmons and Scott Entertainment. Early life Jon was born in Bonne Terre, Missouri to William C. and Marcille ...

* Aaron Weiss ;Production *

- Producer *

- Engineer *

Brad Wood Brad Wood is an American record producer located in Los Angeles. He has produced many albums, including Liz Phair's ''Exile in Guyville'' and Placebo's debut. Career Wood is from Rockford, Illinois, United States. In 1988, Wood, along with ...

- Mix *

Emily Lazar Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for ...

- Mastering

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Say Anything (band) albums Equal Vision Records albums