Hawthorne Heights have announced that their eighth full-length, The Rain Just Follows Me, will arrive Sept. 10 via Pure Noise Records.
Ahead of the release, the band shared a new single, “Constant Dread,” featuring Counterparts’ Brendan Murphy.
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The 11-track album was produced by Grammy-winner Cameron Webb (Alkaline Trio, NOFX, Megadeth) and written by Hawthorne Heights’ lead singer JT Woodruff. It examines themes of physical and emotional distance as well as Woodruff’s personal identity as the band’s frontman.
Woodruff, guitarist Mark McMillon, bassist Matt Ridenour and drummer Chris Popadak came together to create the album while on tour between sound checks and rehearsals—all before the COVID-19 pandemic had begun.
“The most unbelievable part of this story is that this entire album was written and recorded before the pandemic,” Woodruff says in a press release. “All of this darkness and turmoil is basically a summation of the coldest and loneliest nights I’ve tried to reconcile for the past 17 years.”
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“Constant Dread” follows the album’s theme of searching for identity and trying to reach a positive state of mind. While writing, Woodruff looked back on memories he had from Warped Tour in 2017 and came to the conclusion that he needed to have Murphy featured on the song.
“When writing, I tend to dig through memories, both good and bad,” Woodruff says. “In ‘Constant Dread,’ I was searching through one of my favorite tour memories. Warped Tour 2017, in the tour bus village. One of our favorite hardcore bands, Counterparts, was hosting karaoke. As I was standing there, Brendan hit play on ‘Niki FM,’ and then threw me the microphone, and as I was singing my own song to a jury of my peers, I realized that I need to loosen up.
“This should be fun, not agony. When I thought about that moment, while laying [in] bed in the throes of the terror-filled gaze of the moonlight, I knew we needed to put Brendan in this song. And I’m so glad he said yes because [he] absolutely crushes it.”
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Alongside the single, Hawthorne Heights also shared a music video for “Constant Dread.” With static TVs and vibrant pink tones, the video amplifies the uncertain themes of searching for identity that the album as a whole discusses.
The Rain Just Follows Me is out Sept. 10, and you can preorder it here. The band will also release the record in stores with limited edition vinyl variants Oct. 22.
You can watch the video for “Constant Dread” below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The Rain Just Follows Me tracklist:
1. “Constant Dread”
2. “The Rain Just Follows Me”
3. “Holy Coast”
4. “Tired And Alone”
5. “Thunder In Our Hearts”
6. “Spray Paint It Black”
7. “Dull Headlights”
8. “Palm Canyon Drive”
9. “Seafoam”
10. “Words Can’t Hurt”
11. “Bambarra Beach (The End)”
“Constant Dread” lyrics
I can feel my body breaking down, California sun
I can see the colors spiral out, nowhere left to run
Don’t leave so soon, when the darkness closes in
We burned out bright, I’m sorry it’s the end
All our curses go away, washed out by a wave (such constant dread)
All our curses go away, there’s nothing left to save (I’m better off dead)
I’m better off dead
I can’t do it alone just bury my bones off the coast on a western shore
Caught in the foam I sink like a stone I’m lost on the ocean floor
It’s killing me to know, it’s killing me again
Have I let you down now
Have I let you down
It’s all in your head, such constant dread
All I wanna know is, “Am I better off dead?”
Search for a light, look toward the sky
Don’t be afraid to die