''Beautiful Tragedy'' is the debut studio album by American rock band In This Moment. The album was promoted largely in part by an interview conducted on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

's Hard Attack station, which performed several songs off ''Beautiful Tragedy'' and helped expose the band to the heavy metal scene. The band's substantially heavy sound has allowed songs like the single "Prayers" and "Daddy's Falling Angel" frequent airplay on Hard Attack. However, with its strong employment of

clean vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, the title track, "Beautiful Tragedy", has also seen airplay on the

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

station,

Octane Octane is a hydrocarbon and an alkane with the chemical formula , and the condensed structural formula . Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the amount and location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers, 2,2,4-t ...

Composition

The album has been described as

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 ...

melodic metalcore Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre, incorporating elements of melodic death metal and metalcore; it has a heavy emphasis on melodic instrumentation, distorted guitar tones, palm muting, double bass drumming, blast beats, metalcore-stylized brea ...

, and

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has be ...

Release and promotion

music 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 devic ...

was produced for "Prayers", which had the band performing in an ancient

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

. As described in the Hard Attack interview, during the video shoot, vocalist Maria Brink violently met face-first with a camera as it was closing in on the group. After having her nose laceration superglued and made up, Brink finished singing, often keeping her hair in her face to prevent noticeability of her nose. Upon release, the video for "Prayers" aired on ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more ob ...

''. The second commercial release was for the title track, "Beautiful Tragedy", which was also accompanied by a music video. Brink says of the song, "I kept thinking of these funerals where there are family members who haven't talked to each other for years. And then, when they lose someone, suddenly everyone loves each other. Sometimes, something dark brings out something beautiful." The single broke into the Top 40 Active Rock charts. The success of the album led to a year of touring the US, Europe, and Japan with acts such as

Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. They have been classified by critics as gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other inf ...

, Walls of Jericho, and

Lacuna Coil Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Since their formation in 1994, the group has had two name changes, being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, and they have recorded nine studio albums, two extended plays, two ...

. The band also scored opening slots for

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

and

Rob Zombie Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...

at the end of 2007 which increased their profile in the metal scene. An unreleased track from the ''Beautiful Tragedy'' sessions called "Surrender" was released to online digital retailers in December 2007.

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews upon release. Eduardo Rivadavia from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

stated "True, with the exception of Brink's anomalous female presence, In This Moment tenders nothing truly original to the state of early-2000s metal on ''Beautiful Tragedy''; but in a genre too often marred by the misuse of volume and aggression over substance, sometimes great songs should be cause enough for celebration."

Track listing

Personnel

;In This Moment * Maria Brink –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Chris Howorth –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

* Jesse Landry –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Blake Bunzel – guitar * Jeff Fabb –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

;Additional personnel * Recorded at Trax East Studio, New Brunswick, NJ * Pre-production demos recorded at NRG * Mastered at West West Side Music, New Windsor, NY * Producer – Eric Rachel, In This Moment * Pre-producer – Josh Newell, Preston Boebel * Mastered by Alan Douches * Engineer – Eric Kvortek, Eric Rachel * Assistant engineer – Kyle Neeley * Orchestra arranged by

Michael Romeo Michael James Romeo (born March 6, 1968) is an American guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Symphony X. He is one of two members to appear on every Symphony X release (the other being Michael Pinnella). Romeo was ra ...

* Photography – Dean Karr, Olle Carlsson * Artwork – Anthony Clarkson * A&R – Phil Hinkle * Management – Mercenary Management

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2007 debut albums In This Moment albums Century Media Records albums