New Album, 3rd Degree – The Raising, Now Available Worldwide

- advertisement -

LA alternative metal band GEMINI SYNDROME has released their new studio album, 3rd Degree – The Raising. The album was released worldwide via Century Media. Special album configurations (limited edition vinyl, deluxe CD sets, etc.) along with special merchandise are available now via the band’s official website: www.GeminiSyndrome.com.

In celebration of the album’s release, a brand new video and single, “Absolution”, were also released today to all major digital retailers, streaming services, and video platforms. Watch the “Absolution” video on KNAC.COM HERE.

The album release also comes mere weeks before the band heads out on their Initiation US Tour with support coming from Rochester, New York’s OVTLIER, who will be on the first half of the tour (Oct. 28 – Nov. 13), and Sacramento, California’s OH1 THE HORROR, who will join the run for the second half of the dates (Nov. 14 - 27). Additional support comes from pop-punk rock powerhouse PUSHING VERONICA and hard rock wrecking machine THEM DAMN KINGS.

3rd Degree – The Raising is the mind-bending final chapter of GEMINI SYNDROME’s debut trilogy of albums, the first being 2013’s Lux and the second being 2016’s Memento Mori (which hit #1 on Billboard Heatseakers Album Chart and spawned five singles). Wherein Lux, meaning “Light,” was concerned with birth and Memento Mori, meaning “Remember That We Must Die,” dealt with the finite nature of life, 3rd Degree - The Raising celebrates the extreme rituals of rebirth.

Produced by Matt Good (ASKING ALLEXANDRIA, MEMPHIS MAY FIRE, HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD) and featuring the singles “Die With Me”, “IDK”, “Abandoned”, “Broken Reflection”, “Absolution” and “Reintegration”, 3rd Degree - The Raising is undeniably the heaviest, and darkest album of the band’s career.

“The album is about death and rebirth. Finding your true self and fostering its growth so as to help build the world better than we inherited it,” says GEMINI SYNDROME vocalist Aaron Nordstrom. “In the process of this record I made some major life choices. Mainly to stop killing myself slowly with alcohol. Two years without a drink, and a couple near death experiences later, I think I have ample experience to talk about a subject as elusive as death.”

Drummer Brian Steele Medina adds, “The twist to the 3rd and ‘final’ degree is that it’s not the end at all. Rather, it’s a rebirth contingent upon our growth and lessons learned from the suffering of our past mistakes. A spiritual growth that can only be attained through baptism by fire. A metaphorical, yet very real resurrection — THE RAISING.”

Nordstrom continues, “Our hope is that through sharing our experiences, lessons learned, and battles overcome, that we can help others to examine their own consciousness. Their role in the world in its almost infinite capacity, and to help remind each other that we are ALL in this together. We are a family, and when we are United in our commonality, we can achieve things worthy of the attention of the GODS. If you want to change the world, quietly go to work on yourself.”

GEMINI SYNDROME spent the better part of 2018-2019 writing 3rd Degree – The Raising. They retreated to Brian Steele Medina’s Las Vegas home studio, where they meticulously crafted song after song, relentlessly reworking and rearranging the musical arrangements until they were fully satisfied. After an exhaustive writing process, GEMINI SYNDROME relocated to Good Sounds Studio in Tempe, AZ, where producer Matt Good would help realize the collection of songs. Medina recalls, “We absolutely loved working with Matt and he completely understood where we wanted to take this album creatively and what it was going to take to bring the third chapter of this trilogy to light. Our actual collective blood, sweat and tears went into its creation.”

“It was a long, treacherous road to get here,” continues Nordstrom. “First working out an insane amount of songs before arriving in Arizona to record with Matt Good, and then writing a slew more while in the actual recording process, we approached this album with high intentions to evolve musically and internally as people. But then, once we had finally finished everything, and were ready to start releasing new music… everything was put on hold due to the global pandemic.”

Medina adds, “These past few years have definitely been an exercise in patience and acceptance. We had everything mixed and mastered and ready to go in early 2020 before everything shut down. We’re just stoked to FINALLY put this album out and get this post plague show on the road.”

On the brand new single “Absolution”, Nordstrom says, “Absolution is the formal release from punishment, obligation, or guilt. This song is a reminder that the present moment matters more than all others because it is shaped by what we have done and shapes what will be because of the decisions and actions we make now. On a cosmic level, we’re saying, ‘Act right. Otherwise there won’t be another opportunity to act at all.’”

To date, six singles have been released from 3rd Degree – The Raising: “Abandoned”, “Reintegration”, “IDK”, “Broken Reflection”, “Absolution” and the Active Rock Radio hit “Die With Me”. Currently five of the six singles – including the newly released “Absolution” feature visually stunning videos created by director Brian Cox (BRING ME THE HORIZON, THE STRUTS, STARSET).

3rd Degree – The Raising is available in CD, limited edition vinyl and digital download formats.

3rd Degree – The Raising track listing:

• "Reintegration"
• "IDK"
• "Die With Me"
• "Baptized In Fire"
• "Children of the Sun"
• "Abandoned"
• "Broken Reflection"
• "Sum Quod Eris"
• "Best of Me"
• "Absolution"
• "Hold the Line"
• "Where We Started From"
• "Fiat Lux"