Chiodos Experience a Rebirth With ‘Illuminuadio’

Chiodos are in full swing again. After an acrimonious split with singer Craig Owens, the band has replaced him and moved on with the new album 'Illuminaudio,' which is out Oct. 5 of Equal Vision. There has been much Interweb-based chatter about Chiodos since Owens was out and new vocalist Brandon Bolmer was in. Now the talk can be silenced by the music as it hits fans' ears.

A frontman change is always major for a band, and it can either propel them to new heights a la Killswitch Engage, Escape the Fate and Shai Hulud -- or it can stop a band's forward progress altogether, which is a situation with too many bands to list here. Chiodos will most likely fall into the former category.

Replacing Owens was akin to using a tourniquet. You have to stanch the bleeding and cut off the blood flow. While you might lose an appendage, in the end, you still survive and make it out with your life. It was better to sever the limb than, you know, die.

"It's been more positive than negative, compared to what happened before, and the fans have regained confidence," keyboardist Bradley Bell told Noisecreep about how things are shaping up, as the music is now being heard and the band prepares to tour in support of it. "They were skeptical at first, and I don't blame them, but we won them back since they've heard music."

Bell singled out 'Caves,' the second track on 'Illuminaudio,' as his personal favorite. "It has a new sound for us and it's a bit heavier, and the lyrics bring a whole new meaning to everything," Bell offered. "No matter what problems we have, we take a chance. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And when you know that, you can accomplish anything."

The keyboardist also acknowledged that the band got more technical when writing 'Illuminaudio' and tried some different things. When they penned 'Those Who Say Together, Stay Together,' they lit candles and "tried to write the music as if it were for a zombie movie. We were all stoked when we were done, so that's awesome. It was a different approach. But we needed a new pace to the music and not be redundant."

Bell acknowledged that the band is anxious to play the new music and gauge fan's reactions to the new stuff. He said, "It's what we've been working on, and we've been sitting around for three months, so I am anxious to go out and show fans what we've been doing."

He considers the singer swap a rite of passage for Chiodos; one that didn't warrant a name change, even though that possibility was considered. "I think it's important that when we wrote this record, we were trying new things," Bell said. "We kept the name going, since we had written so much for [a new] Chiodos album before we made the member changes. We decided to keep going with the material, so that was every reason to keep going with the name. As we went on with new members, we helped the style progress. We want fans to approach it with [an] open mind, get over any stubbornness and enjoy it for what it is."