Memento Mori, the new album from A&M/Octone recording group FLYLEAF, debuts at No. 8 on The Billboard 200, selling 56, 400 copies in its first week of release according to Nielsen SoundScan. Recorded with Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, The All-American Rejects), who also produced the band’s self-titled Platinum debut, Memento Mori is a compelling blend of bold guitars and soaring melodies, anchored by the honest lyrics and transcendent vocals of lead singer, Lacey.
The album’s first single, “Again,” was Amazon.com’s “Free Song of the Day” on Saturday and is already number 15 (with bullet) at Active Rock radio and number 20 (with bullet) at Modern Rock. The accompanying video can be seen on MTV2 and FUSE. “Again” was one of the songs FLYLEAF performed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in late October, on the eve of the launch of an intimate club tour of the U.S.
Anticipation for Memento Mori has been building for months, as FLYLEAF kept fans in the loop via Facebook and Twitter and a series of webisodes. In August, the band announced the launch of “Road To Memento Mori.” Partnering with Eventful.com and independent retailers, the group asked fans to decide which nine U.S. cities listening events should be held in. Event attendees were treated to seven tracks from the forthcoming album – and a surprise acoustic performance by FLYLEAF.
With the support of Amazon.com, Best Buy, Hot Topic/Shockhound, the iTunes Music Store, Rhapsody, Target, Verizon, Walmart.com, recordstore.com, independent retail and CBA retailers across the country, FLYLEAF was able to offer fans numerous album versions, pre-order options and exclusive content, contributing tremendously to Memento Mori‘s out-of-the-box success.
MySpace Music featured FLYLEAF on “Album Premiere,” “the Feed” and “Artist Playlist” in the week leading up to Memento Mori’s street date. Last week, Yahoo! Music gave the video for “Beautiful Bride” an exclusive, 24-hour premiere and FUSE aired an interview with the band on “The Daily Noise.”
FLYLEAF is Lacey (lead vocals), Sameer Bhattacharya (guitar), Jared Hartman (guitar), Pat Seals (bass) and James Culpepper (drums). Based in Belton, Texas, the quintet has been touring nearly non-stop since the September 2005 release of its self-titled debut album, which spent 133 weeks on The Billboard 200 and contained the hits “I’m So Sick,” “Fully Alive” and the RIAA Gold smash “All Around Me.”
Remaining tour dates are as follows:
November
17 Boston, MA Middle East Downstairs
18 New York, NY Gramercy Theatre
20 Baltimore, MD Sonar
21 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
23 Atlanta, GA The Loft at Center Stage
December
3 Dallas, TX Nokia Theatre (KDGE Christmas)
4 Estero, FL Germain Arena (99X Xmas Ball)
18 Detroit, MI The Fillmore (89X Christmas)
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