Last Week American Nightmare released it’s brand new self-titled studio album via Rise Records. The band have only released two full-length albums since forming nearly two decades ago but after temporarily losing their name, changing members and breaking up, the band has returned with a dark hardcore record that pays homage to groups who have always influenced its sound ranging from Negative Approach, SSD, and The Cro-Mags to those extending beyond the realm of hardcore such as Joy Division and Siouxsie And The Banshees. Check out the brand new music video for “Flowers Under Siege”

From the band:

“In making this record we had one goal: To make a hardcore punk album that was true to American Nightmare, who we were then and who we are now,” he says. “No filler, just existential poetic venom. This is ground zero, a new life for the band.”

American Nightmare. The tour will tour east coast, Canada, as well as the west coast of the U.S. with special guests Pissed Jeans, Protester, Spiritual Cramp, No Warning, cloak/dagger, TØRSO and Fireburn on select evenings

Recorded in Boston, MA at Mystic Valley Recording Studio by drummer Alex Garcia-Rivera, American Nightmare features vocalist Wes Eishold, bassist Josh Holden, guitarist Brian Masek and Garcia-Rivera who were all part of the last original lineup of the band that disbanded in 2004 (and somehow American Nightmare even got their highly prized band name back after temporarily changing their name to Give Up The Ghost). The album also signifies the first truly collaborative record the band has written with all members contributing to its creation. Adhering to a writing process inspired by the Smiths yet evokes Black Flag, and is dripping with the angst-driven nihilism that has defined the act since their inception, the album is the result Eisold feels represents the true essence of the band.

Despite his success with acts like Cold Cave and Some Girls, there is a reason why American Nightmare will always have a special place in Eisold’s heart and you can feel that while listening to the album. “This is a new start, it really is. We are now in the band we always wanted American Nightmare to be with the lineup, the songs, and the name back,” he summarizes. “It feels full circle in the sound of the music referenced earlier, but it also feels complete in that we took the reigns of the band and its past and made a new American Nightmare album … and now we are ready to move forward with it.”

American Nightmare
track listing:

01. The World Is Blue
02. Flowers Under Siege
03. American Death
04. War
05. Gloom Forever
06. Lower Than Life
07. Colder Than Death
08. Dream
09. Crisis Of Faith

FEBRUARY
16 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer *
17 – Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel * [sold out]
18 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall * [sold out]
21 – Montreal, QC – Foufounes #
22 – Toronto, ON – Velvet #
23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Rex Theater #
24 – Detroit, MI – Magic Stick #
25 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge #

MARCH
02 – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage ^
03 – Richmond, VA – Broadberry ^
04 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (w/ Protester, cloak/dagger, Abuse of Power)
09 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick &
10 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex &
11 – Berkeley, CA – 924 Gilman &

* = w/ Pissed Jeans, Protester, Spiritual Cramp
# = w/ No Warning, Spiritual Cramp
^ = w/ Pissed Jeans, Protester, cloak/dagger
& = w/ TØRSO, Fireburn, Spiritual Cramp