Helios (album)

Last updated

Helios
The Fray Helios.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 25, 2014 (2014-02-25)
RecordedJune–Fall 2013
Genre
Length42:19
Label Epic
Producer
The Fray chronology
Scars & Stories
(2012)
Helios
(2014)
Through the Years: The Best of the Fray
(2016)
Singles from Helios
  1. "Love Don't Die"
    Released: October 15, 2013
  2. "Hurricane"
    Released: January 14, 2014[ citation needed ]
  3. "Break Your Plans"
    Released: May 9, 2014

Helios is the fourth studio album by American rock band the Fray. It was released on February 25, 2014 by Epic Records. [1] It is the last album to feature vocalist Isaac Slade, after his departure from the band in May 2022.

Contents

Background and release

The Fray's third album, Scars and Stories , was released in February 2012. In an October 2012 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, frontman Isaac Slade said that the band would be starting work on their fourth album in 2013, aiming to release it around Christmas 2013. [2] On June 4, 2013, the band announced that they had begun recording their fourth album. [3] The album was made available for pre-order on iTunes on November 25, 2013, [4] and was scheduled to be released on January 14, 2014, [5] However, the release date had been pushed back and the album premiered on February 25, 2014. [6]

This was the band's final studio album with Isaac Slade before he announced his departure in March 14, 2022.

Singles

The album's lead single "Love Don't Die" was released on October 21, 2013. [7] It was released to radio on October 22, 2013. [1] On May 9, 2014, the band announced on their Twitter page that the second single of the album is "Break Your Plans". [8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]
CCM Magazine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [10]
PopMatters Disc Plain yellow dark.svgDisc Plain yellow dark.svgDisc Plain yellow dark.svgDisc Plain yellow dark.svgDisc Plain yellow dark.svgDisc Plain yellow dark.svgPlain Disc 40%25 grey or 20%25 black.svgPlain Disc 40%25 grey or 20%25 black.svgPlain Disc 40%25 grey or 20%25 black.svgPlain Disc 40%25 grey or 20%25 black.svg [11]

Upon its release, Helios received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Kevin Catchpole from PopMatters gave the album six out of ten discs, commenting that "the disappointing thing is how slight moments of innovation appear for fleeting seconds only, then disappear into the ether. It suggests a band that is capable of so much more, if only it wanted to try." [11] Andy Argyrakis of CCM Magazine rated the album three stars out of five, remarking how the release contains "plenty of uplifting and contemplative lyrics", yet their "signature piano pop surfaces on occasion, there seems to be a gravitation toward gang-styled choruses and massive electronic beats, which sometimes succeed, but periodically appear too derivative of today's top 40." [10]

James Christopher Monger from Allmusic gave the album two-and-a-half out of five stars, indicating how that "Helios begins innocuously enough with 'Hold My Hand,' a straight-up, anthem generator-spawned arm-waver that pairs a safe, circular, entirely familiar chord progression with a melody that returns the favor (a description that applies to most if not all of the ten songs that follow), before unleashing the album's first single, 'Love Don't Die,' a digitized boot-stomper that leans hard on the Kings of Leon/Black Keys side of the Fray spectrum. Flirtations with disco ('Give It Away') and pure Killers-cloned electro-pop ('Hurricane') follow, but the Fray never sound as comfortable as they do when they're dishing out relatively generic yet undeniably impassioned slabs of Springsteen, Train, Goo Goo Dolls, and Coldplay-inspired, open-highway treacle like 'Our Last Days' and 'Wherever This Goes'." [9]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hold My Hand"
3:41
2."Love Don't Die"
3:03
3."Give It Away"
  • The Fray
  • busbee
3:21
4."Closer to Me"2:47
5."Hurricane"
3:48
6."Keep On Wanting"
4:41
7."Our Last Days"
  • The Fray
  • busbee
3:39
8."Break Your Plans"3:47
9."Wherever This Goes"
  • The Fray
  • Thiessen
3:38
10."Shadow and a Dancer"
  • The Fray
  • Thiessen
4:48
11."Same as You"
5:06
Japanese bonus tracks [12]
No.TitleLength
12."Winter Sun"3:04
13."500,000 Acres"3:18

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2014)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [13] 21
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [14] 42
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [15] 200
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [16] 139
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [17] 11
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [18] 43
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [19] 126
South Korean Albums (Circle) [20] 83
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [21] 79
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [22] 79
UK Albums (OCC) [23] 51
US Billboard 200 [24] 8
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [25] 2

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References

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  2. Ross, Matt (October 8, 2012). "The Fray Set to Start Work on Fourth LP". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  3. "The Fray - We started recording our 4th record". Facebook. June 4, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  4. "The Fray - Just 3 days until #HELIOS is available for pre-order". Facebook. November 22, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  5. "The Fray - Our brand new album #HELIOS comes out 1.14.14". Facebook. November 26, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  6. "Helios by The Fray". iTunes . Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  7. "Love Don't Die: The Fray: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com . Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  8. @TheFray (May 9, 2014). "Artwork for our new single, "Break Your Plans"" (Tweet) via Twitter.
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  10. 1 2 Argyrakis, Andy (July 1, 2014). "The Fray: Helios (Epic)" (PDF). CCM Magazine. Salem Publishing. p. 38. ISSN   1524-7848 . Retrieved June 27, 2014.
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