''Manipulator'' is the third studio album from

mathcore Mathcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk and metalcore influenced by post-hardcore, extreme metal and math rock that developed during the 1990s. Bands in the genre emphasize complex and fluctuant rhythms through the use of irregular time signatur ...

band

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 ...

, from

Mukilteo Mukilteo ( ) is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located on the Puget Sound between Edmonds, Washington, Edmonds and Everett, Washington, Everett, approximately north of Seattle. The city had a population of 20,254 ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. It was recorded at

Robert Lang Studios Robert Lang Studios is a recording studio in Shoreline, Washington, United States. Numerous bands have recorded at Robert Lang Studios since 1974 including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, The Blood Brothers, Candlebox, and Bush. In lat ...

, Red Room Studios, and Avast Classic, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. It was released on May 1, 2007 through

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 ...

, and is the follow-up to their previous 2005 effort, ''

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

''. The title of the album is taken from the song "Sledgehammer".

Information

The album was written in 2006 during what was to vocalist/guitarist

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 ...

"a really dark time" in his life. Erak states: "We wanted to expand upon our band in every direction musically and attitude-wise", resulting in a much more eclectic album; one that "always keeps listeners guessing." The band also wanted to pursue some of their more pop and pop-rock influences. Drummer

Andrew Forsman Andrew Clark Forsman is an American drummer and percussionist from Mukilteo, Washington, known as one of the founding members of the Seattle-based progressive rock band The Fall of Troy. Early life and youth career Forsman grew up in Mukilteo, ...

described the record as

"...a mix of staying true to our punk rock roots whilst pushing new musical ground. We definitely wanted a more poppy sound; we love good pop and we wanted to explore what we could do with that kind of sound. Other than that we wanted to make the songs flow a little better; instead of riff after riff after riff we wanted something that would be more cohesive regardless of the specific style."

Erak adds "

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

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 ...

and

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' ...

were all great bands. I am not afraid to venture into that world as long as the creativity and the art is still preserved as part of it."Kelham, Andrew. "The Fall of Troy Take Control" ''Rock Sound'' pg. 46-47 issue 97 June 2007 Some noticeable changes from their previous works include the increased amount of non-screamed vocals on the album, and the inclusion of "Caught Up", a song consisting of just Erak singing and playing guitar, with no accompaniment from drummer

or bass player Tim Ward. While the album was being recorded, Erak stated that Nouela Johnston of the

ban
Mon Frere
was playing keyboards and adding backing vocals to several of the songs on the album. However upon release of the album, a misprint in the booklet listed Erak as having played keyboards. Erak later apologized on the band's forums for this misprint and asked fans to spread the word online that Johnston played all keyboard parts on the album. With the members being of the ages of 21, they came to the table with a lot more ideas with this album, and it was stated as being their first "mature" effort. At first, many fans were put off from the different direction of the album in terms of style and instrumentation. A majority of the songs also contained less emphasis on the alternating vocals of Erak and Ward, previously displayed in their last two albums. The band has stated that "Semi-Fiction" is a renamed version of the previously unreleased song "Ghostship VI" from their

Ghostship EP ''Phantom on the Horizon'' is a concept EP by American progressive rock band The Fall of Troy that was released on November 28, 2008 through Equal Vision Records. It is the completed version of the ''Ghostship Demos'' EP that the band released in ...

. Just after two minutes into "Semi-Fiction," the guitar part is almost identical to the opening of "Ghostship II" from the same EP. This was the last album to contain bassist/vocalist Tim Ward before his departure in November 2007. The track name "A Man a Plan a Canal Panama" is a

palindrome A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

, as it is spelled the same forward as backwards. It is a reference to former US president

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and his role in the construction of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

. The album art was designed and illustrated by bassist Tim Ward.

Track listing

This is the actual running order of the CD, the track list printed on the disc itself is incorrect due to an error and has the first and third song switched.

Personnel

– vocals, guitar * Tim Ward – bass guitar, vocals, layout concept and illustrations *

– drums Additional personnel * Nouela Johnston – keyboards, backing vocals *

Matt Bayles Matt Bayles (born October 19, 1972) is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician, based in Seattle, Washington. Bayles (pronounced 'Bay-Less') is known for his work with bands such as The Classic Crime, Isis, Soundgarden, Pearl ...

– producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, mixing * John Ziemski – assistant at Robert Lang studios * Ed Brooks – mastering * Bill Scoville – layout construction * Brandon Proff – layout construction

Charts

Album -

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

(North America)

Vinyl release

In November 2011, Enjoy The Ride Records reissued Manipulator on vinyl for the first time as a double-LP. Only 1,000 copies were pressed with 500 featuring a blue, pink, and orange split on LP1 and a black, white, and gray split on LP2 exclusive to Enjoy The Ride Records & Equal Vision Records website. The other 500 sold exclusively at Hot Topic featuring the same colors in a spiral swirl.

References

{{Authority control 2007 albums The Fall of Troy albums Equal Vision Records albums Albums produced by Matt Bayles Albums recorded at Robert Lang Studios