The Used is proud to announce that its fourth album, Artwork, will be released on Sept. 1.
Produced by Matt Squire, Artwork is a raw collection of 11 songs that not so delicately teeter between aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single, “Blood On My Hands,” premiered June 30; it sold over 5,000 copies in the first day and shot to No. 9 on the iTunes Alternative Chart.
“‘Blood on my Hands’ sums up everything about The Used,” guitarist Quinn Allmann said.
The single is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next.
“Empty With You,” a track frontman Bert McCracken said is “about feeling empty and lonely,” surges with passion and gripping honesty, while “Kissing You Goodbye” balances the album’s predilection for propulsive rage with its quieter, piano-driven exploration of what it means to have someone to lean on.
“This record is more sincere,” Allman said. “It’s got a sound more reminiscent of the first record. Lyrically, it completely engulfs you and makes you feel safe but it’s all about feeling alone and empty and knowing there’s always a light. If you’re frustrated that much it means you care that much. The lyrics carry you through the record and you’re right with Bert and where he’s at. The music isn’t showing off. It’s just being what it is. I think the fans will appreciate all that.”
“This record is about coming together,” McCracken added. “Whether it’s through positivity or negativity, it’s about coming together through anything.”
Artwork encapsulates the past eight years of this hard-touring band, which has made the rounds of Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution, Give it a Name, Reading, Leeds, and Taste of Chaos. The Used sold more than two million albums in the U.S. alone. The band’s previous release, 2007’s Lies For the Liars, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200.