Beautiful Tragedy Explained

Beautiful Tragedy
Type:studio
Artist:In This Moment
Cover:In This Moment - Beautiful Tragedy.JPG
Released:March 20, 2007
Recorded:2006
Studio:Trax East Studio, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Genre:
Length:41:43
Label:Century Media
Producer:Eric Rachel
Next Title:The Dream
Next Year:2008

Beautiful Tragedy is the debut studio album by American rock band In This Moment. The album was promoted largely in part by an interview conducted on Sirius Satellite Radio's Hard Attack station, which performed several songs off Beautiful Tragedy and helped expose the band to the heavy metal scene.

The band's substantially heavy sound has allowed songs like the single "Prayers" and "Daddy's Falling Angel" frequent airplay on Hard Attack. However, with its strong employment of clean vocals, the title track, "Beautiful Tragedy", has also seen airplay on the Sirius hard rock station, Octane.

Composition

The album has been described as metalcore,[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] hard rock,[3] [5] melodic metalcore,[6] and post-hardcore.[4]

Release and promotion

A music video was produced for "Prayers", which had the band performing in an ancient chapel. As described in the Hard Attack interview, during the video shoot, vocalist Maria Brink violently met face-first with a camera as it was closing in on the group. After having her nose laceration superglued and made up, Brink finished singing, often keeping her hair in her face to prevent noticeability of her nose. Upon release, the video for "Prayers" aired on Headbangers Ball.

The second commercial release was for the title track, "Beautiful Tragedy", which was also accompanied by a music video. Brink says of the song, "I kept thinking of these funerals where there are family members who haven't talked to each other for years. And then, when they lose someone, suddenly everyone loves each other. Sometimes, something dark brings out something beautiful."[7] The single broke into the Top 40 Active Rock charts.

The success of the album led to a year of touring the US, Europe, and Japan with acts such as Within Temptation, Walls of Jericho, and Lacuna Coil. The band also scored opening slots for Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie at the end of 2007 which increased their profile in the metal scene.

An unreleased track from the Beautiful Tragedy sessions called "Surrender" was released to online digital retailers in December 2007. The album was re-issued in 2022 by Brutal Planet Records on CD, LP, and cassette featuring new remastered songs and bonus tracks previously released in Japan.

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews upon release. Eduardo Rivadavia from AllMusic stated "True, with the exception of Brink's anomalous female presence, In This Moment tenders nothing truly original to the state of early-2000s metal on Beautiful Tragedy; but in a genre too often marred by the misuse of volume and aggression over substance, sometimes great songs should be cause enough for celebration."[2]

Personnel

In This Moment
Additional personnel

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A Star-Crossed Wasteland – In This Moment . . Freeman . Phil.
  2. Web site: Beautiful Tragedy – In This Moment . . Rivadavia . Eduardo.
  3. Web site: Frazer. Bear. In This Moment A Princess And Her Cowboys. 101distribution. June 14, 2010. January 31, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20120307034512/http://www.101distribution.com/article/int10. March 7, 2012.
  4. Web site: PopMatters Review. Popmatters.com. Begrand. Adrien. June 5, 2007. January 3, 2018.
  5. Web site: About.com review . Bowar. Chad. Heavymetal.about.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20071208194814/http://heavymetal.about.com/od/cdreviews/fr/inthismomentbea.htm. December 8, 2007. February 1, 2021.
  6. Web site: Natasha. Scharf. In This Moment - Ritual album review. Metal Hammer. July 18, 2017. January 31, 2021.
  7. Web site: Celebrities Maria Brink feature. 2008-04-25. inkedmag.com. 2008-04-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20080510123054/http://inkedmag.com/inked_people/40/. 10 May 2008. dead.