Invidia, ‘As the Sun Sleeps’ – March 2017 Release of the Month

In one of the more competitive months we've enjoyed in the Most Anticipated Release poll, we've got a fairly new band but one with some familiar names that are leading the way. Loudwire's readers chose Invidia's As the Sun Sleeps as the March Release of the Month, fending off some stiff competition from Body Count's Bloodlust, Art of Anarchy's The Madness, Mastodon's Emperor of Sand, Bush's Black and White Rainbows, Night Ranger's Don't Let Up and John 5 and the Creatures' Season of the Witch, who all put up solid voting totals.

Invidia consists of In This Moment bassist Travis Johnson on vocals, former Five Finger Death Punch bassist Matt Snell on bass, Skinlab guitarists Brian Jackson and Marcos Medina and drummer Darren Badorine. The group also has another key figure in their development, as noted rock producer Logan Mader oversaw the creation of As the Sun Sleeps. In reflecting on the band's brief history, Johnson says their shared experiences in overcoming obstacles played a part. He likened it to the Rocky films, stating, “I’m big on the underdog succeeding – on the fact that you are never out of the game… never too far from winning."

Speaking with Side Stage Magazine, Brian Jackson revealed that none of the music was pre-written and the album itself came together quite quickly. "Travis had some ideas, but as far as the record itself, it was pretty much written in the studio right off the cuff, off the top of our heads. We just got in there and started going for it," says the guitarist. He reveals that the music resembles the post apocalyptic album cover. Jackson explains, "As the title track came about, As the Sun Sleeps, it summed up the whole direction of the record in my opinion. It brought it all together, so that’s how we got the title. There was no concept coming into the band until it really got finished and we started looking at the artwork and really started thinking about the band name and all of it. It just kind of presented itself."

Bassist Matt Snell told Music Existence, "There’s definitely no recipe as far as every single song has to be this way. There was a lot of room there. We have some active rock songs, we have some more industrial edged songs, it’s full record, eleven songs. There’s great artwork from Sam Shearon throughout the entire process from the logo down to the whole mood of the record. He really captured this dark and eerie vibe that we were kinda going for. It’s not by any means a doom metal band or anything like that but there’s definitely some darker end-of-the-world apocalyptic imagery that went along with it that he pulled out."

The band recently debuted their video for the raucous single "Feed the Fire" right here at Loudwire, and they've also unleashed the heavy rocker "Making My Amends" ahead of the album's release as well. Other standout cuts on the album include "Truth in the Sky," "The Other Side" and the album closing title track.

Invidia's As the Sun Sleeps will be released by SPV Records on March 31, but you can pre-order the disc via the platform of your choice here, or check out some bundle packages for the album at this location. Invidia are in the process of figuring out their touring in support of the disc. Stay tuned to this location to see when tour dates are posted.

Once again, congrats to Invidia, as Loudwire's readers have voted As the Sun Sleeps as the March 2017 Release of the Month.