The new album gives voice to the frustrations surrounding pandemic distress and sees the band grow in its sound experimentation and songwriting.
From Ashes to New— the group is comprised of members rapper Matt Brandyberry, lead vocalist Danny Case, drummer Mat Madiro and guitarist Lance Dowdle— is often compared to Linkin Park, a predecessor that paved the way for many bands coming up in the early aughts, but the nu-metal band has always carved its own path and continues to do so with their new album Blackout released on July 28th via Better Noise Music, a concept album that revolves around the distress caused by the pandemic. Zooming from home on a Friday afternoon in June, Case is jovial and eager to chat about the arc of the band’s path and the genesis of Blackout, its aggressive sound, and elevated writing, but wants other opinions first. Choosing to “flip the script” and ask New Noise to pick a favorite track (it’s “Dead To Me”, even though every single one is solid), Case says choosing “Heartache” as the lead single was a process. “We had all of these songs and we were like ‘What are we gonna lead with?’ That song had a unique sound yet it still very much sounded like us and was very much in our wheelhouse. The idea of having the chorus start with Matt and then I come in and the great rap verses, the subject matter, and the overall pacing of the song, we thought it was an absolute homerun to start with.”
Experimentation can be seen throughout the album, from sound to subject matter to vocals. “We tried a few things on this album, some of it made the cut and some of it did not. There’s a slower song where Matt is doing all of the singing. He’s done a little bit of singing and he’s done some screaming, more on this record than he has before. I tried to rap on a song, but it was so last minute, so that got cut. We’re trying to do more to blend it together instead of ‘Here’s Matt, here’s Danny’ We’re trying to flow together more and intertwine our parts.” “Monster In Me” was an “instrumental piece that Lance had put together that was really cool” for which Brandyberry took charge of, writing the entire song. Songs such as “Nightmare” “Armageddon” and “Broken By Design” show the efforts being made towards cohesion, making songs that bring out the ways in which the singers bounce off of each other well, giving the record a lively groove, and hone in on the emotion of the lyrical content, harkening back to Linkin Park and other early aughts influences that have inspired the band.
The numerous comparisons of the sound and vocals of From Ashes to New to other nu-metal bands— the formula of combining rap and heavy rock vocals is far from new— may seem bothersome to some, but vocalist Danny Case welcomes it, pointing to how the vocals of Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire, who collaborated with the band on the closing track “Broken By Design”, sound similar to his own. “There were times where I would worry about whether people would be able to tell when he (Matty) is coming in and singing parts because we did something where we were both singing in one of the choruses and when I go back and listen [to it], I’m not sure that I can tell if both of us are singing. If you have a good ear, you can totally tell the difference, but our vocal styles are very similar. I did study the way he screamed for a few years, so maybe that’s why.” A theory for vocals that sound similar across singers emerges: where they come from. “Matty thinks that oftentimes a huge aspect of a singer’s voice is based on where they’re from. Their old singer, myself, Matty, and Chester Bennington, are all from the Scottish-Irish area. All four of us have similar voices. Matt Tuck, the singer of Bullet For My Valentine, who’s Welsh, sounds similar to our band’s old singer. Also, there’s the shape of people’s vocal cords and the way that they speak, which would influence the way that they sing. I think it’s a cool theory. Maybe he’s onto something with that.” Whether there are musical similarities or not, the band manages to break genre by incorporating rap, electronica, and alternative rock into a high-energy and catchy sound that has helped them tell stories of perseverance and breaking through the noise of the industry and those who tell others that they cannot pursue their dreams.
Formed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2013, Brandberry is the sole founding member with the other members coming on after frequent lineup changes in its early years. Their debut album, Day One, was released in February 2016 but their breakthrough single, ‘Through It All”, put them on the map and channels the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of Matt Brandyberry in an autobiographical manner, who dreamed of growing the band’s reach since adolescence. The band released their sophomore effort The Future followed by 2020’s Panic, which is best known for its pandemic-focused title track which peaked in the Top 20 of the Mainstream Rock Songs Billboard chart, and “Scars That I’m Hiding”, a track that appeared in the soundtrack for the horror film “The Retailiators, and 2021’s Quarantine Chronicles. However, this bout of success came after multitudinous setbacks. Multiple band members left the group after the band signed to Better Noise Music, with people doubting that they can achieve fame as a nu-metal band. Through perseverance, hard work, and endless dedication. Brandyberry and the band have injected new life into a genre that was thought to be on its way out and gained new fans along the way. Since they came onto the scene, the band has toured the country extensively, building a fanbase through a grassroots effort and reaching the top of Billboard charts, inspiring fans to get up, move forward, and make changes in their lives through their uplifting, emotive tunes. Their new album, Blackout, sees the band return to their early aughts angsty sound, the one that has inspired them from the start and forced them to be heard. Songs such as “Barely Breathing” and Monster In Me” shows a new side of the band that puts a fresh spin on the sound that broke them onto the scene— one that is emotive, angsty, and relatable to those who come from all walks of life.
Over the course of 12 tracks recorded during the peak of the pandemic, the record thematically encapsulates the distress of a pre-apocalyptic world. Penning most of the album during mid-2020- 2021, the album proved to be a good method of processing the plethora of emotions that the band members were grappling with while living through the pandemic. “Early 2021, there were so many things happening at the same time that I was ready to bash my head into a wall. I was like ‘Yeah, I can’t take this anymore’ I think that’s where a lot of the mood and the vibe of the album came from. It was frustration [that] boiled over. Maybe that’s why it’s so heavy.” Finishing by recording the album in the summer of 2021 and adding two additional songs at the end of the year, the process to create this body of work was a long one. However, great things take time. With honest lyrics, dual vocals, and angsty rock-laden beats, the album showcases From Ashes to New as a solid band with its own identity.
As for the subject matter (the pandemic became politicized throughout its duration), Case says that the band tends to keep their music apolitical. “We tend to not get into anything political in the public space and we try to be ambivalent about it because we don’t want to alienate anyone. At the end of the day, everyone has their opinions and everyone believes in their heart that that’s right so you can’t fault anyone for that.” However, the singles “Heartache” and “Dead To Me” clearly capture the album’s sound of anger, frustration, and distress caused by the global event. The album is not solely about living in a world ravaged by catastrophe— punk-infused “Hate Me Too” has more playful lyrics, and the slow-paced “Barely Breathing” contains a more electronic sound. Since the album’s release, the record has been one of the biggest releases in the industry, breaking into the Top 10 worldwide chart at No.10, seeing the band build on the success of their debut album. This album zones in on how the band members felt during the pandemic, seeing everything that they worked hard to establish wiped out in a short time, and relying on one another for creative inspiration, blocking out outside influences.
For Case, the state of the nu-metal genre is bright. “We’re at a point culturally where people are recycling things and maybe updating its sound a little bit, which is pretty much what we’ve been seeing for the past 15 years. When you look at all the biggest bands that are headlining festivals, a lot of them are nu-metal bands. If Linkin Park were still playing, they would absolutely be headlining everything. Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, and Disturbed, are all bands that are still around and are at the top of their game. There was a time when people were like ‘Nu-metal is stupid’ but now nu-metal searches are at an all-time high since 2003.” The band’s success is similarly at a high point, with Case adding that the new album has “really propelled us” and is a positive development in their journey as a band.
According to the vocalist, the success of this album is “odd” as things did not feel like they were going the way the band wanted for a long time. “Perseverance is everything. I don’t think anyone ever did anything meaningful that lasted without it being hard. I joined in 2017 and ever since then, it’s been a battle of solidifying our core fanbase and growing. Having 2020 happen when it did was like hitting a literal reset button. We were like ‘ We have good momentum and we’re doing good things and we released cover songs along with extra songs, but it felt like we were back at square one when we came back, and this is tough. We just keep on pushing through it. This band doesn’t have any quit in it. That’s the mentality of all four of us.”
Brandyberry formed the band in his late twenties, and Case did not join the band until he was 26, an age where most people in the industry have already been successful. “Now we’re all in our 30’s and things are starting to go well. I feel like rock is an industry where you have to prove your worth and staying power and then people will come. Pointing to the arc of the career of Ice Nine Kills, a band that has been around for nearly two decades and rocketed to success due to their horror-themed albums and aesthetic, allowing them to play with renowned bands and do incredible things, Case says that it can take a long time to reach success, something that “a lot of bands deal with.” “They had to stay past the expiration date of other bands that were doing well or better. At the end of the day, it’s about [how] whoever stays the longest ends up ruling. We’re hoping that our time is next and I think we’re growing and doing well. I can’t wait to get back in the studio and write the next chapter.”
Blackout is more than a new album in the cycle, this is the next era of a burgeoning band that comes from “nowhere” Pennslyvania and endlessly worked on their craft to get to this point in their career. From Ashes To New is a rock band with a point of view, one that they do not shy away from sharing. Their music is a testament to the power of positive inspiration and not choosing to settle for mediocrity. It gives fans far and wide a collective sense of hope that they too can make something of themselves no matter where they come from and allows them to have a space to channel the frustration that life can bring.
