Megalithic Symphony is the debut studio album by American rock band Awolnation, released on March 15, 2011, through Red Bull Records. The album is the band's first full-length release, following the release of the extended play Back From Earth (2010). Megalithic Symphony has since peaked at number 84 on the United States Billboard 200 and at number 57 on the Austrian Albums Chart. As of March 2015, the album sold 581,000 copies in the United States. The deluxe edition of the album was released on November 19, 2013.
On February 29, 2016, the RIAA certified Megalithic Symphony platinum.
In 2021, for the album's 10th anniversary, a special edition of it was released, including three unreleased songs and live performances of some older songs, for a total of 27 bonus tracks.
Track listing
Lyrical content "Some Sort of Creature" In a live Facebook Q&A session, Bruno described "Some Sort of Creature" as something he truly experienced. "What you hear on that track, a sort of segue track, is really what actually happened! And that's really all I can describe; it's me speaking to myself, because I didn’t want to forget this thing I saw. And it's all right there in the song."AWOLNATION was live
Reception Megalithic Symphony received critical acclaim. The album was praised in a 2011 review for Bruno's ability to combine electronic and organic songwriting with soulful, rough and melodic vocals. A reviewer for Louder Sound praised the eclectic sound and described the 14-minute Knights of Shame as sounding like Muse if they gave a toss about playlists.
However, a reviewer on Sputnik Music called it "hit-or-miss" and noted that the album "has a ton of ideas, but doesn't know what to do with them."
Personnel Sourced from the original album liner notes.
Awolnation Aaron Bruno – vocals and synthesizer (all tracks except 2 and 9), drums (tracks 1, 4–12, 14), percussion (tracks 1, 3, 4, 11), keyboards (tracks 1, 12, 14), bass guitar (tracks 1, 5, 10), guitar (tracks 5, 7, 14), piano (tracks 10, 13), Fender Rhodes electric piano (track 7), synth bass (tracks 11, 12, 14); additional bass guitar and drums (track 3); string arrangement (track 10) Drew Stewart – guitar (tracks 3, 11) Christopher Thorn – guitar (tracks 5, 10, 11) Kenny Carkeet – synthesizer (track 5) Hayden Scott – drums (track 5) David Amezcua – bass guitar (track 14)
Additional musicians Jimmy Messer – guitar (tracks 3, 4, 6–8, 11–14), drums (tracks 6, 7, 13), synthesizer (tracks 6, 7), bass guitar (track 6), synth bass (track 7), keyboards (track 13) Billy Mohler – bass guitar (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 10–13) Tony Royster Jr. – drums (track 3) Brian West – Casio keyboards and synthesizer (track 8) Watts Choir – vocals (tracks 4, 9, 13) Arielle Verinis – vocals (track 11) Cameron Duddy, Curtain$ and Tarrah Toland – vocals (track 14) Eric Stenman – engineer, mixer, additional production; whistling (track 10)
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2011–2014) Peakposition Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA) 4 Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 53 UK Albums (OCC) 165
Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position US Independent Albums (Billboard) 38
Chart (2012) Position US Billboard 200 158 US Independent Albums (Billboard) 13 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) 30 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) 42
Chart (2013) Position US Billboard 200 163 US Independent Albums (Billboard) 12 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) 45 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) 45
Chart (2014) Position US Independent Albums (Billboard) 40
Certifications
Release history Region Date Format Label Catalog no. United States March 15, 2011 Digital download Red Bull n/a March 29, 2011 CD RBR1086 Belgium July 1, 2011 Digital download n/a France Germany Netherlands Spain United Kingdom Belgium July 4, 2011 CD RBR1108 France Germany Netherlands Spain United Kingdom United States December 9, 2011 2xLP RBR1134 Australia April 13, 2012 Digital download n/a New Zealand Australia May 25, 2012 CDUnknown New Zealand May 28, 2012 Unknown Deluxe Edition (First Issue) Belgium January 25, 2013 Digital download Red Bull n/a France Germany Netherlands Spain United Kingdom Deluxe Edition (Second Issue) Australia November 15, 2013 Digital download Red Bull n/a United States November 19, 2013 United Kingdom November 25, 2013 10th Anniversary EditionWorldwideMarch 15, 2021Digital downloadRed Bulln/a
References