''Pain Is a Warning'' is the ninth album by

Today Is the Day Today Is the Day is an American noise rock and Avant-garde metal, experimental metal band that originally formed in Nashville, Tennessee. The band's diverse sound combines influences from areas such as noise music, avant-garde metal, grindcore ...

, released on August 16, 2011, by

Black Market Activities Black Market Activities (BMA) is an American independent record label that was founded in 2003 by Guy Kozowyk, the frontman of the Boston, Massachusetts-based extreme metal band the Red Chord. History Black Market Activities was started with ...

Background and recording

''Pain Is a Warning'' is considered by both fans and critics as the band's most accessible work. According to frontman Steve Austin, the intent of the album was to simply be "honest and raw". In an interview with

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, Austin described their mindset during the writing process of the album as ''"make up an idea, keep it, make the next idea and then connect it all together."'' Lyrically, the album was inspired by the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

which, according to Austin in a video interview, nearly caused him and his family to go into poverty. The track "Remember to Forget" was written about Austin's mother, who at the time was suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. The album's title was inspired from a conversation Austin had with his son.

Track listing

Accolades

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Pain Is a Warning'' liner notes. Today Is the Day *Steve Austin – vocals, guitar, production *Ryan Jones – bass guitar, backing vocals *Curran Reynolds – drums Production and additional personnel * Kevin Baker – backing vocals *

Kurt Ballou Kurt Ballou (born February 1, 1974) is an American musician and record producer based in Massachusetts, best known as the guitarist for metalcore band Converge and for his recording and production work at his own GodCity Studio. Early and pe ...

– mixing,

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

; guitar on "This Is You"''Pain Is a Warning''.

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. Retrieved on December 10, 2022. *Alan Douches – mastering *

Nate Newton Nathaniel Isaac Newton (born December 20, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. He also was a member of the Tampa Bay Bandit ...

– backing vocals *Mike Wohlberg – design

Release history

References

External links

*
''Pain Is a Warning''
at

(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control 2011 albums Black Market Activities albums Today Is the Day albums