Within The Ruins is back with a new record Phenomena II due out August 23 and a new single "Castle In The Sky" streaming right now! The record serves as a follow-up to Within The Ruins' 2014 album Phenomena, and is the band's first effort since 2020's Black Heart.
"When you listen to us, we hope you feel like you found some fresh metal," said Within The Ruins guitarist Joe Cocchi. "After doing anything for a long time, it's easy to get stuck in your ways. So, we always try to present something you haven't heard before—and you aren't going to get anywhere else."
Phenomena II was written and recorded at Cocchi's own Tin Bridge Brewing company in Westfield, MA, and was produced by Cocchi himself.
"We had written a handful of songs, and we were searching for inspiration," said Cocchi. "We wanted to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Phenomena, because it was a pinnacle point of our career. I wrote a demo that reminded [vocalist Steve Tinnon] of Phenomena. So, it was his idea to create Phenomena II. The styles really aligned in terms of the unique guitar effects and the themes where each track tells a story from a comic book character's point-of-view."
On the single, Cocchi added: "It has everything people want to hear from us out of the gate. There's some old-school Within The Ruins in there. Lyrically, it's based on The Punisher. He's a war veteran who has his family taken away from him. The central struggle is, 'Would he rather be alive or reunite with his family in the castle in the sky?'"
Pre-orders for Phenomena II are available here.
