The Casting Out - (The Lost Album) Deluxe Edition LP (Clear Splatter) NEW

$

38

Artist: The Casting Out

Label: End Hits Records

*All vinyl and cds come with printed 3D glasses

*Deluxe version contains album + 12" four song bonus vinyl w/ screenprinted B-Side

*CD comes in Digipack with the 4 bonus songs

Looking back is not always pleasant, but sometimes necessary. With this in mind, ten years after it’s initial release, End Hits Records publishes a reissue of The Casting Out‘s third and almost lost album "!!!". Originally released in 2010, this record by Nathan Gray's pop-punk project presents the Boysetsfire singer from an almost forgotten musical side. In the spirit of Bad Religion and Jawbreaker "!!!" represents a torn musician who is at the peak of his creative output, but who has never personally fallen so deeply before.

While The Casting Out are producing "!!!" in 2010 with Boysetsfire guitarist Chad Istvan, Nathan Gray is facing an inner abyss. The band's constant line-up changes are a testimony to the chaos in the singer's head. In a frenzy of alcohol abuse and self-destruction, "!!!" is created under circumstances that make the music seem almost incidental. "I was drunk, confused, focused on myself and uncontrollably angry," Gray remembers the time of the album's creation. "I had a mile-long list of people I was angry at. But as time passed, I realized that my anger was just a mask I wore when I couldn't get along with my own self-hatred."

The result of this inner discord can be heard clearly on "!!!" and is reflected in a confused contrast of musical components that seem to press Gray's imbalance and soul-searching frighteningly onto record. The sound of the album differs clearly from the singer's other projects and shows a musician who, after the interim split of Boysetsfire, was determined to establish himself as an independent artist. The up-and-coming songs actually sound like the irresistible and at the same time unruly charm of great punk heroes like Samiam, but in their disturbingly open lyrics, they reveal a Nathan Gray whose feelings are currently circling in completely different spheres.

"In these days, I wanted to be like everyone else, just not like me," Gray confesses the creation of a record in which the music seems to take on an identity that is not his own. "I wanted to be someone I looked up to. Someone who I assumed had it better than I did. Someone cooler, more put together, more talented, more ‚special‘. I guess that’s the number abuse does on us sometimes, in a need to escape the horrors screaming in our head, we look to play a character to both erase what we were forced to survive and become everything we believed we could never be in our brokenness."

The chaos around "!!!" at that time also becomes concise through his puristic production, which makes the album sound more brusque and angular than any other record with Gray's participation. After the recordings Gray even refuses - against the will of the producer - to have the album mastered. But the more than adverse circumstances cannot hide the fact that Nathan Gray is at a creative peak at this time. Rarely has the singer been able to strike the right balance between melancholic introversion and fierce punk energy in his songs as perfectly as here. It is not for nothing that both "Let It Bleed" and "Heaven Knows" are still fixed components of every Boysetsfire setlist.

And on top of all the internal chaos the initial release of the album is a total catastrophe as well: When Eyeball Records releases the CD in 2010, the label sends the band 30 copies and then immediately disappeared from the scene. Rumours have it that one of the label's owners has disappeared with the proceeds due to his cocaine addiction. After the release tour, The Casting Out disband and Boysetsfire are back.

All the more important that End Hits Records is now making this almost lost release available to a wider public for the first time digitally and on vinyl. The Reissue is completely remastered. Available in five colours, the vinyl edition is limited to 800 pieces and comes with elaborate gatefold packaging, download code and 3D glasses. The deluxe edition also includes a 12" record. The B-side is decorated with an elaborate screen print, the A-side contains four rare bonus tracks. These can also be heard on vinyl and streaming providers for the first time. The Digipack CD will be limited to 200 copies.

Track Listing:

1. Everybody Down!

2. Let It Bleed

3. ...Say It

4. The Power And The Glory

5. The Kids Have Spoken?

6. Before We Die

7. All The Best

8. Run Like Hell

9. Wait

10. Headfirst

11. One More Time (With Feeling)

12. Heaven Knows

13. Tell Me *

14. Your Last Novelty *

15. Skulls *

16. I Don't Wanna Hear It *

* 2xLP & CD ONLY TRACKS