Finnish 6x Platinum-certified and 8x Gold-certified, record-breaking rock outfit The Rasmus hold nothing back on their new track, the toxic love-themed ‘Break These Chains’ ft. Niko Vilhelm of Blind Channel.It’s out today via Better Noise Music and Playground Music. Driven by the band’s signature blend of dark atmospheres and anthemic melodies, the emotionally gripping song is taken from the album ‘Weirdo’. It arrives September 12th, marking their 11th studio album and first for Better Noise Music.
“‘Break These Chains’ is about a toxic relationship,” says singer Lauri Ylönen, who digs his teeth into such lethal lyrics as “You made me believe/That true passion makes you bleed/So I stayed too long/To play your twisted games.” Lauri wrote the song with revered hit songwriters/producers Marti Frederiksen and Desmond Child. “It’s about letting go of something that you know is bad for you, but you’re obsessed with.”
For ‘Break These Chains,’ The Rasmus called on Niko Vilhelm (of the Finnish Nu Metal band Blind Channel) to make a special guest vocal appearance. “The Rasmus are heroes of mine, so obviously I was excited when Lauri called me and asked me to be a part of this song. Even more so when I heard the track. The heavier sound suits them soooo well. I’m so hyped about where they’re headed and what’s to come.”
Most of the songs on ‘Weirdo’ were written by Lauri Ylönen, Desmond Child (who contributed to the band’s ‘Black Roses’ and ‘Rise’ albums and has worked with Bon Jovi, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, among countless others) and Marti Fredriksen (Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Veil Brides) in Folegandros, Greece. That’s where Lauri and Desmond met up to work on material that Lauri brought. The Rasmus then did full band demos of all the tracks in Finland in July 2023, with production led by Frederiksen and Child.
Later, they finalized the songs and recorded the album with the whole band in Marti Fredriksen’s Sienna Studios in Nashville. Some of the tracks were mixed by Fredriksen in Nashville, assisted by Evan Fredriksen, while other mixes were done by Chris Baseford (Nickelback, Shinedown, Daughtry) in Vancouver, Canada and by Claudius Mittendorfer (Panic! At The Disco, We Are Scientists) in London, and Joseph McQueen (Bad Wolves, As I Lay Dying, From Ashes To New) in Los Angeles. Additional production by McQueen injects a fresh intensity into tracks like ‘Creatures of Chaos’ and ‘Break These Chains’, while Ylönen himself takes the helm on ‘Rest in Pieces’ alongside Alex Mattson.
‘Weirdo’ tracklist:
01. Creatures of Chaos
02. Break These Chains
03. Rest in Pieces
04. Dead Ringer
05. Weirdo
06. Banksy
07. Love Is a Bitch
08. You Want It All
09. Bad Things
10. I’m Coming for You
Upcoming tour dates:
October 23rd – Monte Caputo – Limassol, Cyprus
October 25th – Floyd – Athens, Greece
November 11th – Markthalle – Hamburg, Germany
November 12th – Metropol – Berlin, Germany
November 13th – Stodola – Warsaw, Poland
November 14th – Sono Centrum – Brno, Czechia
November 15th – Barba Negra – Budapest, Hungary
November 16th – Simm City – Vienna, Austria
November 16th – Technikum – Munich, Germany
November 18th – Alcatraz – Milan, Italy
November 20th – Komplex 457 – Zurich, Switzerland
November 21st – Substage – Karlsruhe, Germany
November 22nd – Garage – Saarbrucken, Germany
November 23rd – Batschkapp – Frankfurt, Germany
November 25th – Live Music Hall – Cologne, Germany
November 26th – Tivoli – Utrecht, Netherlands
November 27th – Trix – Antwerp, Belgium
November 28th – La Cigale – Paris, France