The Phoenix is a remix album by Grey Daze composed of Chester Bennington's vocals from the 90's over newly recorded instrumentals. The first single, "Saturation (Strange Love)", was released on April 15, 2022.
Background
Work on the songs that composed Amends and The Phoenix began in 2017. A large batch of songs was worked on at the same time and the band chose the tracks that would ultimately make up Amends.
Tentatively titled New Sun Tomorrow,[1] the project was started in February 2017[2] when Chester and Sean picked about four songs to recut and sent new guitarist Cristin Davis into the studio to work on them.[3] The album was announced in June by bassist Mace Bayers as a remaster of ...No Sun Today they would be working on with producer Sylvia Massy.[4]
Writing and Recording
At the time of the Amends release, the band said that they had leftover tracks that they continue to develop for the follow up second album. "Hole" was rumored to be in the track list as well since it was previewed (along with "In Time") by Sean Dowdell in July 2018 while filming a documentary about the band but it didn't make the album.[5] When questioned about it, Sean answered "it didn’t make the cut for the record" and Cristin said "Hole will be on the next record."[6] "Spin" was also heard during a video Grey Daze posted in December 2018 from the The Saltmine Studio Oasis.[7] Ever since the promotion of Amends, the band publicly stated that a second album was intended the entire time due to the leftover material.
Work on the leftover material began in 2020 and continued throughout 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The band enlisted special guests to be featured on the album like the first release.
Sean said, "Amends was more emotional and reflective. We felt sad when we were writing it. Now that we're a couple of years removed, it's very clear what we were going through. We were at a different stage of grief. We went through the shock and the sadness. Now, we're back to gratitude. So, The Phoenix is more of a celebration of our friend, his talent, and the music. It captures Chester's angst and energy that people fell in love with. It’s much more aggressive. If you love Chester's scream, you'll love this record."[8]
Composition
Several tracks were renamed for the album, like Amends.
"Saturation" was renamed to "Saturation (Strange Love)" and "Here, Nearby" was renamed to "Be Your Man", while "Anything, Anything" was titled as a "New Version." On June 18, 2021, the DC Dark Nights Death Metal soundtrack was released digitally by DC and Loma Vista Recordings. As a part of the soundtrack, Grey Daze released a new version of their Dramarama cover "Anything Anything" created with Tyler Bates. On Instagram, the band called this "Retro Version" and commented on YouTube that the version that would be on their next album ("The Phoenix") would be a different version of the song.
Grey Daze's guest lineup for the album includes Dave Navarro, guitarist of Jane's Addiction, on "Holding You", Chester's twin daughters Lily and Lila Bennington on "Hole", amd Richard Patrick, lead singer of Filter, on "Believe Me."
Tracklist
Standard Edition
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saturation (Strange Love) | Chester Bennington | 3:55 |
| 2 | Starting To Fly | Chester Bennington, Sean Dowdell | 3:27 |
| 3 | Be Your Man | Chester Bennington | 3:40 |
| 4 | Holding You (feat. Dave Navarro) | Chester Bennington | 4:15 |
| 5 | Hole (feat. Lily and Lila Bennington) | Chester Bennington | 4:34 |
| 6 | Drag | Chester Bennington | 3:32 |
| 7 | Believe Me (feat. Richard Patrick) | Chester Bennington | 3:53 |
| 8 | Anything, Anything | John Easdale | 3:47 |
| 9 | Spin | Chester Bennington | 4:06 |
| 10 | Wake Me | Chester Bennington | 3:25 |
Japanese Edition
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | B12_demo.1997.aiff | Chester Bennington | 2:33 |
Personnel
Grey Daze
- Chester Bennington - vocals
- Sean Dowdell - drums and backing vocals
- Mace Bayers - bass
- Cristin Davis - guitar
Additional Musicians
Production
- Produced by Esjay Jones
- Mixed by Lucas D'Angelo
- Mastered by Emily Lazar
Management
Artwork
Promotion
Reception
Gallery
-
Cover
External Links
References
- ↑ Grey Daze on Twitter: "Working on possible album titles and artwork... and it's really good so far! #GreyDaze #ChesterBennington #SeanDowdell #MaceBeyers #NRGstudios https://t.co/2zZ78Y4W4l" / Twitter, October 19, 2018
- ↑ Grey Daze on Instagram: “Talinda Bennington @talinda320 December 10th, 2019”, December 11, 2019
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedRollingStone - ↑ Grey Daze Reunion Show Announcement - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, June 26, 2017
- ↑ Grey Daze Remasters/Video Project - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, July 10, 2018
- ↑ Grey Daze on Instagram: “The new album Amends, out April 10th. Pre-order & Save at the link in bio.”, February 06, 2020
- ↑ Grey Daze - Time for some #Spin! At The Saltmine Studio..., December 22, 2018
- ↑ Rock N Load Magazine - Grey Daze Returns with The Phoenix, 2022