Restoring Force (album)

The album was announced through numerous publications in late November 2013. The album was produced by David Bendeth.[11] The album's official track listing was revealed alongside the album's announcement.[12][13] The album itself was completed in October 2013.[14]

"You're Not Alone" was the first song to be released from the album, premiering on December 1, 2013,[15] followed by "Bones Exposed" which premiered on December 23, 2013.[16] While "Bones Exposed" is technically the second single from the album, it did not receive an official release. "Would You Still Be There" and "Feels Like Forever" were the second and third singles from the album, released in May and October 2014 respectively, and the deluxe edition featured two of the three new tracks as singles, released in February: "Broken Generation" in the UK, and "Never Giving Up" elsewhere.

The album was released on January 28, 2014, through Rise Records. After the album's release, the band embarked on a two-month tour with Bring Me the Horizon.[23] The band also headlined in the UK in April 2014 with supporting bands Issues and Beartooth.[24] Before its official release, the album was made available to stream online for fans to listen to on January 21, 2014.[25]

Despite the album being completed in October 2013, it was chosen to be officially released in January 2014. In an interview with Austin Carlile, he stated that the reason for this was because "It's a good way to start the year and it gives us the whole year to really push on and tour, it'll be great feeling like we have the whole year ahead of us."[26] The album was also promoted through a "bundle pack", where you can get the album along with other franchise, including a limited edition of a coloured LPs, making this the first album by the band to be released on vinyl disk.[27]

In late 2014, it was announced that they would release a deluxe edition of the album called Restoring Force: Full Circle which would include three brand new songs along with an acoustic version of "Feels Like Forever".[28]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk	80%[29]
Alternative Press	[30]
Kerrang!	[31]
Loudwire	[32]
Metal Hammer	8/10[33]
Rock Sound	8/10[34]

Restoring Force received mostly positive reviews from critics, who complimented the different sound of the album. At Alternative Press, Phil Freeman rated the album four stars out of five, and noted that sometimes the album feels like a departure from its predecessor, but stated "if the bolder moves on Restoring Force turn out to be signs of the band's musical future, it could have an impact across the scene."[30] Loudwire's Chad Childers stated that Pauleys vocals complimented Carliles screams throughout the album, and also praised the decision to have David Bendeth as their producer as he challenged the band to re-evaluate their writing process. He went on to applaud the album's range of moods and sounds, going from the brutality of the 'Public Service Announcement' to the melodic side of the band of 'Space Enough to Grow'.[32]

Several reviews have stated that the band's new direction, much like their statement, had gone towards a more nu metal approach.[35][36][34][29] Rock Sound reviewer Andy Ritchie stated that album sounds as though it is a completely different band compared to their previous releases, however will divide their fanbase. The review went on to claim that the album's roots are "firmly embedded in turn-of-the-century nu metal," but later went on to say that it still contains some of the band's "textbook metalcore," and that it was a unique sound either way.[34] AbsolutePunk also highly praised the band's new style, since their previous albums had been efforts to be "ninety percent of today's average band trying to make it the metalcore/post-hardcore/risecore scene." Furthermore, they were surprised that Carlile had changed his screams to a more nu metal style from his previous metalcore style, but again praised this highly.[29]

The album was included at number 31 on Rock Sound's "Top 50 Albums of the Year" list.[37] The album was included at number 32 on Kerrang!'s "The Top 50 Rock Albums Of 2014" list.[38]

Restoring Force was predicted to have sold between 45,000 and 55,000 copies in its first week.[39] It would end up selling 51,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number four on the US Billboard 200.[40] The album is the band's highest charting album, peaking at number one for the first time on the Independent Albums and Hard Rock album charts.[41] It has sold 207,000 copies in the United States as of August 2016.[42]

The album is also the band's first album to have charted on the UK Rock Chart, peaking at number 17,[43] and also in the Australian Albums Chart, peaking at number 9.[44]

All tracks written by Austin Carlile, Alan Ashby and Aaron Pauley.[45]

Citations

Sources