Grey Daze, the Phoenix, Arizona rock band formerly fronted by a pre-fame Chester Bennington, have announced the forthcoming release of a new album, The Phoenix. And the group are describing the 10-track collection as "a celebration of our friend, his talent, and the music."
As a first taste of the album, set for release on June 17 via Loma Vista Recordings, Grey Daze have shared its lead-off single, Saturation (Strange Love).
Chester Bennington left Grey Daze in 1998, moving to Los Angeles soon after to join Linkin Park, then called Xero. The singer later reunited with his old friends and was in the process of recording new music with the band before his death in July 2017.
In 2020, Grey Daze released Amends, featuring newly-recorded music accompanied by remastered takes of Bennington's vocals taken from the band's back catalogue. Now the group are set to release a follow-up set, The Phoenix, with cameos from Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, Filter's Richard Patrick and Bennington’s daughters, Lily and Lila Bennington.
The video for the album's lead single features archive footage of Bennington on stage.
Speaking of the song, drummer Sean Dowdell says, “It’s going to surprise a lot of people because it gets back to Chester’s core.”
“One of the things that people love about him was his unique ability to scream in key… and this song brings you back to everything you love about that scream. You feel that angst and raw emotion he brought to everything he did.”
Comparing the group's forthcoming album to its predecessor, Dowdell says, “Amends was more emotional and reflective. We felt sad when we were writing it. Now that we’re a couple of years removed, it’s very clear what we were going through. We were at a different stage of grief. We went through the shock and the sadness. Now, we’re back to gratitude.
So, The Phoenix is more of a celebration of our friend, his talent, and the music. It captures Chester’s angst and energy that people fell in love with. It’s much more aggressive. If you love Chester’s scream, you’ll love this record.”
