“Story Of The Year helped shape the post-hardcore landscape.” – Billboard 

What’s the sound of Story Of The Year? Loud guitars, massive singalong choruses, and uplifting perseverance. Few records helped build the post-hardcore scene as swiftly as the band’s debut, Page Avenue, one of the first of its kind to sell a million copies. “Until the Day I Die” endures as both an anthem and mission statement. Tours with Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Deftones, and The Used cemented Story Of The Year’s reputation as a stunning and engaging live act. 

The connection between the band and audience transformed Story Of The Year from teenagers working in a St. Louis pizza chain franchise into hard rock headliners and Warped Tour staples, capable of commanding a crowd in intimate clubs and at massive international festivals with equal enthusiasm and expertise. 

Fans grew together with the incredibly tight-knit group comprised of Dan Marsala (vocals), Ryan Philips (guitar), Josh Wills (drums), and Adam Russell (bass). They’ve evolved from Page Avenue (2003), In the Wake of Determination (2005), The Black Swan (2008), The Constant (2010), Wolves (2017), to Tear Me to Pieces (2022), a record as engaging and vital as the very first one 20 years before.

Tear Me to Pieces is distinctly, invitingly, loudly Story Of The Year. Heartache, desperation, motivation, toxic relationships, pain, loss, anger – all of the essential ingredients of the classic Story Of The Year sound power Tear Me to Pieces in dazzling new ways. 

On a recommendation from Page Avenue producer John Feldmann, the band made album six with Colin Brittain (Papa Roach, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Dashboard Confessional) in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Tear Me to Pieces opens with the hard-charging title track, followed by the scorching, melodic “Real Life.” The profoundly introspective “Glow” contains some of the most potent lyrics of Marsala’s career. “War” is an adventurous new vibe for the band yet anchored in old-school authenticity. 

“We go in all different directions,” Marsala explains. “We have fast punk songs and ballads. We have screamy songs, big melodic songs. But somehow, no matter what we do, it always sounds like us.” 

Philips attributes that to the kind of chemistry that can only come from decades of brotherhood. “We grew up in the same city, went to the same high school, skateboarded together. Way before we played music, we hung out together before we were Story Of The Year,” he says. “Twenty years later, we’re back in the same city, hanging out with the same people. I’m closer to these dudes than my own brothers. I think that comes across in our podcast, our Instagram stories, and certainly, in our music.” 

Tear Me to Pieces is undeniably, objectively killer, perhaps the best SOTY album since Page Avenue. 

“There’s definitely something special about this one,” Marsala says.

Philips agrees. “I think this album will be a defining moment in our career. When our fans hear it, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, shit, these dudes are ready to go!’ This is the sound of a band putting everything into it. If a new band came out with this album, I’d be texting everyone in my band about it.” 

Story Of The Year specializes in intense, passionate, confessional compositions that inspire and empower diverse sets of people around the world. Songs like “The Antidote,” “Miracle,” “The Ghost of You and I,” “Anthem of Our Dying Day,” “Take Me Back,” and “Real Life” resonate with anyone burdened by the pangs of loneliness, uncertainty, and angst, but determined to overcome adversity. 

Until the day I die, indeed.