Downpicked riffs, subtle screams, and sensible pop n’ flair- what more could you ask for? Attraction To Tragedy are ready to fulfill all of those needs with their new album, Passion Over Fashion- an unconventional post-mainstream metalcore album that proves that style and substance can coexist.
Recorded at Zing studios (Killswitch Engage, Underoath etc) with producers Jim Fogarty (All That Remains, Shadows Fall) and Joe Cocchi the album combines shameless pop hooks and infectious metal riffs. 22 year-old singer/guitarist Jaiden Shay was joined in the studio by Jim Fogarty on bass and Joe’s Within The Ruins bandmate, Kevin “Drummer” Mcguill.
We have the pleasure of presenting Attraction To Tragedy’s official track-by-track breakdown of Passion Over Fashion, penned by frontman Jaiden Shay! For your convenience and the betterment of your reading/listening experience, we have included the official album stream at the bottom of this article. Enjoy!
“Beauty In Bloodshed”
I wrote this one the day after seeing Carcass and The Black Dahlia Murder. I wanted to try my hand at writing something a little heavier than usual. I just started playing and maybe less than an hour later most the song was there. It was the only song from the record that we played live prior to recording. Being a big Metallica fan, I downpicked most of the record and the riff at (1:08) is quite the workout. Whenever I have to warm up, that’s one of my go-to’s.
“Unlikeable”
The chorus came to me one night when I was brushing my teeth. Its very NSync. The bridge riff (“the tyrant has spoken…”) took me a while to figure out how to sing and play it at the same time. While downpicking is great on record, for singing somehow alternate seems to work better for parts like that. Another big change on this record was attacking myself rather than only other people and this song truly epitomizes that.
“Trippin”
“Trippin” is a total throwback to the music that I listened to in high school: Funeral For A Friend, Stutterfly, From First To Last. This is how I wanted us to sound when we first started 6 years ago, so it was really cool to revisit those influences. We’ve started opening with it at our shows and it really sets the mood.
“Stephanie Brooks”
I made a conscious effort to write songs in keys I was comfortable singing, however, with this song I went low. The hardest part to track for this one vocally was the second verse because of how it drops down. Despite that, though, I love playing this song. Guitar wise, it’s total Gothenburg. The working title was actually “In Flames”. Lyrically, I went down the true crime rabbit hole with this one, which required a fair amount of documentary viewing. After reading the lyrics my producer walked in and simply said, “You sick fuck,” haha.
“Suffer Serenely”
This song is probably the closest thing to our older material. It’s controlled chaos. The chorus really sticks out for me because of its more rock/emo leanings. There are 2 drummers on the choruses by the way: our producer, Jim Fogarty, plays the first half, then the drummer from Within The Ruins (Kevin “Drummer” Mcguil) does the rest of the song. Also our other producer, Joe Cocchi, was kind enough to play a ridiculous impromptu solo on this one. The second verse riff might be the hardest to play on the entire record.
“Passion Over Fashion”
This song is essentially the mission statement. It’s very direct and to the point. People ask us about the artwork and packaging… Well, this one explains it all. Jim, our producer, played live piano for this one and he killed it. I love synths but there’s something about mic’ing up the real thing.
“Undead”
I wrote the intro after seeing Darkest Hour live and seeing how the crowd reacted to their more mid-paced sections. It got me thinking about our shows and not wanting every song to just be fast. The lyrics are heavily inspired by Night Of The Living Dead. Definitely wearing my Aiden and Misfits influences on my sleeve.
“Vasillica”
This song was my attempt at writing an acoustic interlude akin to something Dissection had mastered. It came together in maybe an hour one day. I was taking a break from writing and I think why it basically wrote itself was because there was no pressure or expectation. It was just a fun writing exercise. The intro riff to “Desperate” was actually written for this song first then added to “Desperate” later to connect the songs. I recorded it using a classical guitar built in 1963. The brand name escapes me but its crazy to think it was older than everyone who worked on the record.
“Desperate”
Initially, this was supposed to be a fast, thrashy, Trivium-esque song, but that didn’t last long, haha. The chorus lyrics just came out when I was playing and I was so psyched [that] I had to google them to make sure I wasnt subconsciously lifting them, hahaha. Even people who don’t like this kind of music seem to like this one, which is really cool.
“Graven Image”
Joe had mentioned trying to write a song in the studio because we were ahead of schedule. I brought the intro/verse/pre-chorus riffs in and wrote the chorus on the couch in the studio. It’s so different from the other songs and, to me, really balances things out.
“Slaughter Road”
I was in Alabama for my cousin’s wedding and on the way somewhere the GPS said to go down “Slaughter Road.” I immediately thought, “That sounds like a Misfits song.” I laughed it off, but then I wrote the chorus lyrics/melody in my head right there. I had to fight a little bit for the over-the-top Aiden-style crash hits underneath the intro riff, but I couldn’t picture it without them.
“Breathe”
I always knew this was gonna be the closing song on the record. The chorus screams are some of my favorite on the record. The lead during the chorus has a weird timing which took some time to figure out. Originally there was no outro. But with the downtime in the studio, I put it together one afternoon and started recording it the next day. There are 2 drummers on this song as well. Drummer did everything but the outro which was done by Jim. I feel like the outro really helps solidify the “Passion Over Fashion” concept because it shows [that], as musicians, we can stand on our own.
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About Attraction To Tragedy
“Although I love the reaction it’s always passion over fashion” With their debut album, Passion Over Fashion, Attraction To Tragedy are ready to prove that style and substance can coexist. Recorded at Zing studios (Killswitch Engage, Underoath etc) with producers Jim Fogarty (All That Remains, Shadows Fall) and Joe Cocchi the record combines shameless pop hooks and infectious metal riffs. In the studio 22 year old singer/ guitarist Jaiden Shay was joined by Jim Fogarty on bass and Joe’s Within The Ruins bandmate Kevin “Drummer” Mcguill. After a long search for musicians who shared his vision, Jaiden was joined by bassist Brandon Burke and drummer Izzy Scott to take the band to the next level. Now stronger than ever Attraction To Tragedy are out to prove that they really do put Passion Over Fashion.
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