Break the Stars

Break the Stars is the fourth studio effort released by the American metal band Osmosis. It was released on February 18, 2003 under the Epitaph Records label. It would be the group's last album with the record company. Three music videos were produced for "Dead Boys", "Athena Contradicts", and "Kill Everyone You Love".

Music and theme
By contrast, this album is considered by many to be a huge (and somewhat controversial) departure musically for Osmosis. First of all, the record is characterized by a much more aggressive and emotional sound structure (Marco put more emphasis on death grunts, crooning, and shrieking than any of his other techniques, Ash experiments with plucking, Phoenix utilizes a tenor sax instead of the typical alto one he normally plays with, and the guitar work is faster), with very little effort on the avant-garde style put in.

The second thing is: the usual anime-laden song titles are gone and have been turned into more serious names. Stylistically and lyrically-speaking, fans have gone on record to say that Break the Stars is the band's darkest material to date.

Track listing

 * 1) "Needless Whore" - 3:24
 * 2) "Vengeance" - 3:47
 * 3) "Combusting the Liquid" (feat. Chad Gray) - 5:12
 * 4) "Dead Boys" - 4:10
 * 5) "Kill Everyone You Love" - 3:09
 * 6) "Forest of Sand" - 3:36
 * 7) "I'm You" - 1:28
 * 8) "Angered By Hades"  - 4:51
 * 9) "Glucose Overdose" - 3:17
 * 10) "Break the Stars" (feat. Serj Tankian) - 5:03
 * 11) "Athena Contradicts" - 3:15
 * 12) "Two Months" - 3:59

Osmosis

 * Marco Simmer - Lead vocals, samples, co-producer
 * Shawn Lorelei - Lead guitar, spoken word on "I'm You", co-producer
 * Ash Beale - Bass guitar, programming, co-producer
 * Phoenix Riviera - Rhythm guitar, tenor saxophone, backing vocals, co-producer
 * Chris Nevadin - Drums, percussion, co-producer

Additional credits

 * Toby Wright - Producer
 * Sean Beavan - Mixing, mastering
 * Colin Richardson - Engineering, recording
 * Greg Wells - Additional mixing
 * Jay Baumgardner - Assistant engineer
 * Frank Maddocks - Art directon, design

Music videos

 * Dead Boys; Kevin Kerslake
 * Kill Everyone You Love; Dale Resteghini
 * Athena Contradicts; Joe Hahn

Dead Boys

 * Directed by the acclaimed Kevin Kerslake. The music video showcases the vocalist (Simmer) as the leader of a savage mob as he and the group visit Japan just to destroy everything there. Throughout the video, the rest of the band members can be seen tied to a rotting tree.

Kill Everyone You Love

 * Directed by Dale Resteghini. The story of the music video revolves around two women (one young and another fairly old) who wake up barenaked and bleeding somewhere in a place where there is no life. Over the course of it all, they soon learn that, if one of them is to survive and return to Earth, they must perform acts of self-harm; i.e. the young woman reaches down her throat, pulls out the heart, and crushes it, and also "tears off" one of her breasts. Near the end, it is revealed that the old lady, now leaving elsewhere, deceived the younger one, thereby leaving her to pass away. Alongside Osmosis' video for "Hueco Mundo = Mexico", it was the only one that does not feature any of the band members. According to MTV, it was also the band's most controversial music video; it can only be watched properly online.

Athena Contradicts

 * Directed by Joe Hahn, best known as the DJ and sampler for the American rock band Linkin Park. The video's setting takes place at a decrepit-looking Mount Olympus, with the band performing the song there. Throughout the video, clips taken from the anime Saint Seiya are entwined.

Details

 * Released: February 18, 2003
 * Genre: Alternative metal, nu metal, progressive metal, heavy metal, gothic metal, technical death metal
 * Label: Epitaph
 * Producer: Toby Wright, Osmosis