Empired “Strikes Back” With Upcoming Album

Southern California’s Empired are charging full steam ahead with their sophomore album, Strikes Back, that will be released via HEY!FEVER RECORDS this Fall. Pre-orders go live on August 1st, with limited vinyl bundles featuring a shirt designed by Chris Shary, vinyl will hit the shelves on August 29th with the digital version landing everywhere on September 5th. To celebrate the streaming release, the band will host a free listening party on September 5th at The 4th Horseman in Long Beach, CA, featuring exclusive merch, charity auctions, prizes, and more in collaboration with Punk Rock Gives Back and Paws Of The Night animal rescue. When it came time to record Strikes Back, Empired faced a familiar dilemma: pour their budget into a pro studio, or hit the road? The answer: do both.

“Empired had a brand new batch of tunes but ran into a dilemma… do they spend the money on going into a pro studio to record it? Or, do they spend that money on touring the planet? After much debate, we decided to roll up our sleeves and record it ourselves. Thankfully, we had a killer engineer in the band, Cameron Mosavian.” (guitarist & vocalist Bruce Zebal)

With makeshift studios built out of band members’ homes and guidance from both Cam and Bruce, the record took shape organically. Mastering on select tracks was handled by Paul Miner, and the band brought in John Carey Jr. at Under The Oaks Studio to lend a hand on vocal arrangements for the song Iron River. The result: a ten song collection, including a vinyl exclusive live cut of KGWe, that captures the raw, high-energy spirit of Empired‘s live show with the heart and soul of true DIY grit.