Fallujah announce new album ‘Empyrean’

May 2, 2022 James Weaver

FALLUJAH have announced a new album!

Titled Empyrean, the upcoming album from the San Francisco tech death band is the follow-up to 2019’s Undying Light, and is scheduled to be released in September this year, via Nuclear Blast Records.

With an overhauled lineup that includes primary songwriter/guitarist Scott Carstairs and compeer/drummer Andrew Baird and newly added vocalist Kyle Schaefer [ARCHAEOLOGIST] and bassist Evan Brewer [ex-ENTHEOS, THE FACELESS], FALLUJAH intends to show themselves at their creative peak that’s nearly unmatched in modern death metal.

Speaking about the upcoming album, guitarist Scott Carstairs says, “after such an experimental expression [with Undying Light], we sat down to write Empyrean completely refreshed and inspired, It was like the musical tension of the last decade had been released, and we were ready to achieve goals the band had originally set out for. Empyrean is truly a return to form because we are doing what comes naturally to us, but with an intensity that we haven’t achieved in the past. We set out to create something that represents the band and its history in its purest form while also pushing our technical abilities further than we have ever gone.

Every FALLUJAH album has been a reflection of whatever ideas felt the freshest and exciting to us at that particular point in time. We’ve developed our own defined sound over the years, but on this album, our new members helped bring in some new perspectives. We incorporated new elements such as counterpoint and tempo changes but maintained elements integral to the band and even brought back techniques used in older records. At this point, it’s all about elegantly presenting the sound we have cultivated over the last decade.”

Throughout Empyrean, the band intend to surprise. Musically, lyrically, and with their bevy of guests, they add hard-to-describe depth and musical import. Vocalist Tori Letzler (Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice) reprises her role on “Radiant Ascension and Artifacts, while CHIASMA’s Katie Thompson also reappears to elevate Embrace Oblivion and Into The Eventide. Chaney Crabb of ENTHEOS and CYBORG OCTOPUS’ David Wu tender their talents on Mindless Omnipotent Master and Duality of Intent, respectively. Celebrated artist Peter Mohrbacher [SERENITY IN MURDER, RAINBOWDRAGONEYES] replays his role on Empyrean as well.

“From the beginning of this writing process and until the end, we painstakingly made sure every aspect of this record would blow away our listeners,” states Carstairs. “We meticulously scrutinized every riff and note choice. There has never been this much effort put into a FALLUJAH record as we did with Empyrean, and the result is a truly monstrous record that we believe is the band’s best work by a significant margin. We showed you restraint on the last record. Now, let us show you what happens when we leave it all on the table.”

Alongside the announcement of the new album, FALLUJAH have released a new music video for the first song lifted from the upcoming album; Radiant Ascension. The new music video was produced by Defiant Digital Productions and directed by Robert Graves.

Watch the official music video for Radiant Ascension here:

Also, you can view both the track list and artwork for the upcoming new album below:

Track List:

1. The Bitter Taste Of Clarity
2. Radiant Ascension
3. Embrace Oblivion
4. Into The Eventide
5. Eden’s Lament
6. Soulbreaker
7. Duality of Intent
8. Mindless Omnipotent Master
9. Celestial Resonance
10. Artifacts