STAIND Releases Deluxe Edition Of 'Confessions Of The Fallen' Featuring New Song 'Full Of Emptiness'

Multi-platinum rock band STAIND has released a deluxe edition of its latest album, "Confessions Of The Fallen", featuring a brand-new track, "Full Of Emptiness".

STAIND guitarist Mike Mushok states: "We're very excited to be able to offer our fans a deluxe edition of 'Confessions Of The Fallen'. There are a couple unreleased tracks on it, one being 'Full Of Emptiness'.

"It was so hard deciding what tracks not to put on the record, and it's great to have them heard now. We really love 'Full Of Emptiness' and are stoked it's finally available to be heard!"

Along with the brand-new song, the digital-only deluxe album also includes the alternate version of the band's latest single, "Better Days", featuring singer and namesake of Los Angeles rock band DOROTHY. "Better Days" is currently No. 5 and climbing at Active Rock radio, following the path of the band's first two singles, "Lowest And Me" and "Here And Now", both of which reached No. 1 at Active Rock.

STAIND's co-headline tour with BREAKING BENJAMIN and special guests DAUGHTRY and LAKEVIEW kicks off September 10 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania.

"Confessions Of The Fallen" deluxe album track listing:

01. Lowest In Me
02. Was Any Of It Real
03. In This Condition
04. Here And Now
05. Out Of Time
06. Cycle Of Hurting
07. The Fray
08. Better Days
09. Hate Me Too
10. Confessionals Of The Fallen
11. Full Of Emptiness
12. Take
13. Better Days (feat. Dorothy)

In a recent interview with Germany's Riot Vision, Mushok spoke about the "electronic element" which was incorporated into "Confessions Of The Fallen". Released via Alchemy Recordings/BMG, STAIND's first new LP album since 2011 was produced by Erik Ron (GODSMACK, PANIC! AT THE DISCO, BLACK VEIL BRIDES).

Mike said: "Well, that was something that [singer] Aaron [Lewis] really wanted to explore. We had talked about it before, but we'd never really done it. So he really wanted to make that a part of what we were doing. And it was funny, 'cause I do remember saying to him, like, 'I play guitar. I don't know how to do that.' So that's where I feel like Erik played a really big part in helping make that a part of what this album sounds like. Some of those verses where you hear [and] it's like more electronic[-sounding], that's a guitar part I wrote just played on a synthesizer, [using] some crazy sound. So he was able to take some of those things that I wrote and adapt it to kind of bring in some of those elements into the music. And I think he did a great job. I like it. I'm pretty happy with it."

Asked what new musical elements he would like to explore on future STAIND albums, Mike said: "I don't know. To me, it's just really about trying to write great songs. It's really just kind of trying to take what we do and make it better. And I don't really have any kind of guidelines. If it calls for more electronics or — I don't know — a guitar solo or whatever the case may be, whatever really the song calls for, I think that that's what the best thing to explore is. But I was very happy with the process of making this record and how it came out. Some records have been really difficult to make. This one wasn't one of those. The way we did it, it took us a while, but we got there. And by the end of the day, once we got there, I was really happy with the end results."

When "Confessions Of The Fallen" was announced in April 2023, Lewis stated about the LP's musical direction: "I did want to modernize the sound and bring us up to date. You can certainly recognize the band but at the same time you can hear that we've been paying attention and understand what kind of sounds and approaches we can use that maybe weren't around the last time we did this."

STAIND has released eight albums since 1995, including 2011's self-titled effort. The band has had a number of hit songs during its first two decades, including the Top 10 smash "It's Been Awhile" from the No. 1 album "Break The Cycle". Follow-up LPs "14 Shades Of Grey" and "Chapter V" also topped the Billboard chart.

STAIND released its first album in nine years, "Live: It's Been Awhile", in May 2021 via Yap'em/Alchemy Recordings. The "Live: It's Been Awhile" album was accompanied by "The Return Of Staind", a two-part global streaming series in partnership with Danny Wimmer Presents.

Photo credit: Steve Thrasher