Heavy Love (Man Overboard album)

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Heavy Love
Heavy Love Man Overboard.png
Studio album by Man Overboard
Released June 30, 2015
Recorded Early 2015,
The Blasting Room, Fort Collins, Colorado
Genre Pop punk[1]
Length 39:15
Label Rise
Producer Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore
Man Overboard chronology
Passing Ends
(2014)Passing Ends2014		 Heavy Love
(2015)

Heavy Love is the fourth studio album by American rock band Man Overboard. It was released on June 30, 2015 by Rise.

Background

In May 2013 Man Overboard released Heart Attack through Rise.[2] Between March and May 2014 Man Overboard supported All Time Low on their A Love Like Tour in the U.S.[3] Shortly afterwards, Man Overboard went on the Heart Attack tour in North America throughout May and June.[4] It was the band's first headlining tour in a while,[4] following a break – their longest in five years.[5] During this break some of the band member's relatives had died and a few of the members had gotten married.[5] The group released Passing Ends, an acoustic EP, in October 2014.[6] The EP was "the biggest reflection" of the group's activities at the time and was the first time the group recorded material since their previous album[5] Heart Attack (2013). The band released a split with Senses Fail in March 2015.[7] Following this, the band toured the U.S. in March and April, supporting Bayside.[8]

Composition

In a October 2014 interview with Alternative Press, vocalist/guitarist Zac Eisenstein revealed the band were writing and demoing.[9] While working out where to take their new material, Man Overboard was unsure how to "do justice to the emotions we were feeling", Collier revealed.[5] For the band's previous releases, they would write material on tour, then demo it after the tour had finished and then take the songs into the studio.[5] For this new album, Bill Stevenson had the band play the songs live in the studio, instead of having them multitrack and listening to the finished result.[5]

Eisenstein mentioned that the group were attempting new ideas on the record.[10] Eisenstein also mentioned that they were evolving as songwriters, thanks to Stevenson.[10] The band was "achiev[ing] new sounds" that they had not previously gone for.[10] At the same time, the sound of the band's previous albums is present.[5] "Reality Check" was made in the vein of their earlier material from when they first formed.[10] "The Note" was written a couple of weeks prior to recording.[11] "She's in Pictures" was inspired by The Beach Boys.[11]

Recording

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It's one thing to be a good sound engineer or producer, but to do both and keep things moving at a comfortable pace is a whole other skill set to have. Bill has it all.[5]

– Guitarist Justin Collier, discussing working with Stevenson, 2015

In early 2015[9] Heavy Love was recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado.[12] It was the first time the band traveled far away from home to record.[11][nb 1] The album was produced by Stevenson[12] and Jason Livermore, the former of which was a member of the Descendents. Members of Man Overboard grew up listening to the Descendents and were big fans.[5] Guitarist Justin Collier called it "surreal" working with Stevenson.[5] Stevenson gave the band creative control and helped keep the recording process in motion.[5] Collier mentioned that the group were "figur[ing] out how to transition back into being a rock band".[5]

On occasion, Eisenstein would be unsure about a particular guitar riff and say to Stevenson "Where do I draw the line between what I want to play and what people think I should play?"[11] Stevenson would reply with "You draw it right fucking now, record your part!"[11] Stevenson "pushed us by not pushing us, just allowing us to be creative", according to Eisenstein.[11] Eisenstein revealed that there was nothing to distract the band "since we weren't going home to our family and friends every night".[11] He likened it to "going on a little vacation".[11]

Release

On May 11, 2015 Heavy Love was announced for release and "Borderline" was made available for streaming.[13] A day later, music videos for "Splinter", "Now That You're Home" and "Borderline" were released.[14] On June 3, a music video was released for "Cliffhanger".[15] "Reality Check" was previewed by Billboard on June 17.[10] On June 25, the album was made available for streaming.[16] Heavy Love was released on June 30[17] through Rise.[13][nb 2] Following this, the band are set to play on the 2015 edition of Warped Tour.[15] The band had the idea of releasing the album around Warped Tour as it was "the best opportunity for bands in our world to promote a record", according to guitarist Wayne Wildrick.[5] On July 2, a music video for "She's in Pictures" was released.[19] The band are playing in Japan in August and in Australia & New Zealand in September, supporting The Story So Far.[20] In November, the bane went on a tour of the U.S. east coast with support from A Loss for Words, Northbound and WATERMEDOWN.[21]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AbsolutePunk 9/10[22]
Alternative Press 3.5/5 stars[23]
Idobi Radio 7/10[1]
Sputnikmusic 3.7/5[24]

Alternative Press reviewer Greg Pratt states, the album "move[s] [the band] forward ever so slightly ... But much of the album is still mainly a solid homage to Blink[-182]".[23] Mischa Pearlman of Rock Sound said the band were "firmly shutting the door on their adolescence" with the new album.[25] Pearlman considered it "the start of a new and promising chapter" for the band.[25]

The album charted at number 15 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart[26] and at number 35 on the Independent Albums chart.[27]

Track listing

  1. "Now That You're Home" – 3:05
  2. "Borderline" – 3:02
  3. "Reality Check" – 3:21
  4. "Splinter" – 3:34
  5. "The Note" – 3:58
  6. "Cliffhanger" – 3:11
  7. "She's in Pictures" – 2:37
  8. "Invisible" – 3:26
  9. "Deal" – 2:28
  10. "Anything" – 3:19
  11. "For Jennie" – 3:23
  12. "A Love That I Can't Have" – 3:45
iTunes bonus track
  1. "The First Degree" – 3:18

Chart positions

Charts (2015) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hard Rock Albums[26] 15
U.S. Billboard Independent Albums[27] 35

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ Previously, the band traveled to North Jersey to record Real Talk (2010) and Man Overboard (2011), and outside of Philadelphia to record Heart Attack (2013).[11]
  2. ↑ U.S. Rise RISE 290-2[18]
Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Pratt 2015, p. 98
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Pearlman 2015, p. 84
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Sources
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External links

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