The Black Swan (Story of the Year album)

Recording and composition

It was their first album recorded with indie label Epitaph Records, after switching from major label Maverick Records. Commenting on this switch, lead singer Dan Marsala said in an interview, "Making this record felt like starting over. We're like a brand new band. You can hear it in these songs, we're excited again. I think we've really stepped it up on this record." Guitarist Ryan Phillips adds, "Epitaph seemed like the perfect place for us at this time in our career. It's a much more creative environment." The album was produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette who has also produced albums by Chevelle, Escape the Fate, and A Change of Pace.

Concept

The album was named after Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, on unpredictable events and randomness. One theme found in a few of the songs ("Wake Up", "Terrified", and in particular "Pale Blue Dot (Interlude)") is the concept that human existence is insignificant in comparison to the universe as a whole, and that wars, fighting and killing seem pointless. The track "Pale Blue Dot (Interlude)" was inspired by the famous photograph of the same name and features an excerpt from astronomer Carl Sagan's book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space read by its author. The band believes that people should live their lives to the fullest extent. Other themes include political and social issues.

Release

"Wake Up" impacted radio on February 19, 2008. "Message to the World" impacted radio on July 1, 2008.

Reception

Critical reception for The album was generally positive, and the album did fairly well commercially. It debuted on the UK rock charts at number 6 and at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling about 21,000 copies in its first week.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Dan Marsala and Adam Russell, all music composed by Story of the Year

Personnel