American Tragedy and Redux (2010–2011)
The band soon began writing material for their second studio album;
American Tragedy.
[17][18] On April 1, 2010, the band started its own
iheartradio station, with horror and thriller tales.
[19]
In recent interviews, the band has stated intentions to record their
second album in summer 2010 and release it in the fall. James Diener,
head of the band's record label, confirmed the next album for a fall
2010 release and believes that it will launch the band into more
mainstream success, making it a "big next step" for the group.
[20]
The band has also confirmed that producer Don Gilmore, who also worked
on their debut album, has returned to produce the new album. Recording
concluded around mid-November and the band began mixing the album the
day after Thanksgiving.
The band began a marketing campaign for the second album. They co-headlined the
Nightmare After Christmas Tour with
Avenged Sevenfold and
Stone Sour to support the album. On December 8, 2010, the band released the artwork for the album's first single, titled "
Hear Me Now". The track was released on December 13, for radio and on the band's YouTube page, and was made available online as a
digital single
on December 21. J-Dog commented that this is his favorite song that the
band has done so far. The song's lyrics tell the story of a person who
is depressed and hopeless, taking a very somber tone to the track.
Despite this, the instruments and melodies contrast to make a "great
rock smash", reports
AOL Radio blog.
[21] Within its first couple days of release, the single made it to number 2 on the iTunes Rock Chart.
On January 11, 2011, the band announced the upcoming album will be titled
American Tragedy. The next day, they released a preview of the album on their YouTube page. On January 21, they released a new song, "
Comin' in Hot" available for a free download.
[22]
Also revealed in the "Comin' in Hot" trailer that the new album will be
released in March 2011. In a recent interview, the group announced that
the official release date for the album would be March 8, 2011
[23] but as of February 22, 2011, it was announced that the album has been pushed back to April 5, 2011.
[24]
On February 6, 2011, the band released another song titled "
Been to Hell", for a free download.
[25]
Hollywood Undead member J-Dog said he will continue to release "sample"
music for free download until the album has released, via Hollywood
Undead email subscribers, Hollywood Undead website members, and Facebook
fans.
American Tragedy turned out to be more successful than their first album
Swan Songs, selling about 67,000 copies (66,915) in its debut week, while
Swan Songs sold 21,000 copies in its debut.
American Tragedy has also peaked at #4 on the
Billboard 200, while
Swan Song's
highest peak on the Billboard 200 was #22. It has also peaked at #2 on
many other charts, while also reaching #1 on the Billboard's Top Hard
Rock Albums chart. The album was also very successful in other
countries, making #5 in Canada and #43 in the United Kingdom.
[26]
To continue promoting the album, the band headlined the
Revolt Tour, along with
10 Years,
Drive A, and
New Medicine.
[27]
The very successful tour took place between April 6–May 27, 2011. After
the tour, the band played several shows in Europe, Canada, and
Australia. They will then headline the
Endless Summer Tour with
All That Remains and Hyro da Hero, which will take place between July 18–August 7, 2011.
[28]
The band announced in August 2011 that they would be releasing a remix album containing remixes of several songs off of the
American Tragedy
album. The album will include remixes of the tracks "Bullet" and "Le
Deux" that are from fans winning a remix contest for each, with the
winners earning money, band merchandise, and their track on the EP. A
music video will be released for the remix of "Levitate" and the title
for the album was confirmed to be
American Tragedy Redux,
with a release date of November 21, 2011. On November 1st, 2011, the
band set out on another tour titled the "World War III" tour, with
Asking Alexandria,
We Came As Romans,
Borgore, and
D.R.U.G.S. [29][30] Following the "World War III tour", the band also joined
Avenged Sevenfold again on the "Buried Alive" tour, with
Black Veil Brides and
Asking Alexandria, with dates running from November 11 to December 14.
[31]