FLYLEAF: More 'Memento Mori' Album Details Revealed

A&M/Octone recording group FLYLEAF has set an October 27 release date for "Memento Mori", the follow-up to the band's hit 2005 self-titled debut. The album makes its introduction with the debut single "Again", set to impact at multiple formats nationwide on August 25. To record "Memento Mori", the Belton, Texas-based quintet again teamed with producer Howard Benson, who — in addition to FLYLEAF's debut — is known for his work with PAPA ROACH, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE and THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS.

A compelling blend of powerful guitars and soaring melodies, "Memento Mori" is highlighted by the stirring, melodic "Arise", the thunderous, riff-fueled "Beautiful Bride", the high-flying "Missing", and the dynamic, urgent "Set Apart this Dream". Though song contributions come from every member of the band, "Memento Mori" features a lyrical theme that started out as a kind of urgent and hopeful personal message from FLYLEAF vocalist Lacey to her teenaged sister. "I feel like the new songs began as a kind of open letter to my little sister, saying, 'Please don't make the mistakes that I have made,'" explains the thoughtful and reflective Lacey. "When I'm on stage and look out into the crowd, I see my sister in so many faces. With the title 'Memento Mori' we took that feeling a step further so that it now encompasses meaning for the rest of the band as well; essentially to make the most of the time we've all been given. 'Memento Mori' is universal."

The album's title comes from the well-known Latin phrase that, through the ages, has been uttered as a reminder of the mortality we all share. According to ancient texts, memento mori was historically acted out as a kind of ritual tableau in ancient Rome when a victorious general was welcomed back to the city with a parade: "Standing behind the victorious general was a servant, and he had the task of reminding the general that, though he was up on the peak today, tomorrow was another day. The servant did this by telling the general that he should remember that he was mortal, i.e. 'Memento mori."

FLYLEAF recently returned home from their first tour for U.S. troops overseas. The band's diverse itinerary took them from Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan — where they performed before nearly 1,000 hard-rocking soldiers — to the distant Forward Operating Base Baylough in southern Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border. Because they were unable to fly to Baylough with their requisite gear, the band entertained their closely assembled audience with a rare acoustic/a cappella set. "It was one of the most humbling and powerful experiences, as far as helping me appreciate life and appreciate what those men and women do for us all," says Lacey.

FLYLEAF — Lacey, guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann, bassist Pat Seals, and drummer James Culpepper — have been touring the world nearly non-stop since the September 2005 release of their self-titled debut album. On the strength on three top-charting rock singles — "I'm So Sick", "Fully Alive" and the RIAA gold smash "All Around Me" — FLYLEAF soared to RIAA platinum heights while steadily drawing new legions of passionate fans. The album spent 133 weeks on The Billboard 200 while staking claims in the top 5 of the Top Hard Rock Albums chart and the top 15 of the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts. Last year saw the band contribute their rendition of "What's This?" to the star-filled compilation "Nightmare Revisited", a rock homage to the music of director Tim Burton's now-classic 1993 film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

The five Texans came together as FLYLEAF in 2002 when longtime friends Bhattacharya and Hartmann merged their considerable talents with Lacey, Culpepper, and later Seals. "We got together and it was magical," remembers Lacey. "We knew right from the first practice that we had something."