The Stage turns 4!

[Dominik Gräber]

So A7x asked on IG "where were you when it dropped?". And I thought it would be cool to hear everybodys Story with the "The Stage" release here.

I personally was in my bed. Had to Set an Alarm in the middle of the night to watch their Live Stream after which they dropped it. That morning I used my Spotify Premium Trial to listen to the Album on my way to school in the morning. Fun Times!

 

[idssdi]

I set an alarm and listened to it a dozen times during the day. Also, drained my data in the train because I wanted to listen to it

 

[Adin Shepherd]

Hmm, I have no idea where I was when it first dropped, I only heard it for the first time last year.

Not a very cool story, sorry Dom

 

[Rad Synner]

Mmm I actually remember that because it was a hard time for me back then. I was going through something difficult and yeah I waited for the livestream, thought it was cool and when the album was released, I was like, cool, lemme give it a listen and it actually helped me a lot to go through my personal shit. I have very fond memories of the stage and hardwired to self destruct because they help me through that patch!

 

[Ethan Keeling]

I was a new fan at the time, and i remember looking on spotify and thinking "wait a minute, this wasn't on here yesterday!!" started off for me as a weaker album, but now it has become perhaps one of my favourite albums, and perhaps the best rock/metal album in terms of how beautifully it is written, every-time i listen to it i hear something new and it never fails to amaze me. This album really shown how fucking good A7X are as musicians and composers!

 

[Ed Seith]

The Stage is still (and probably always will be) the last physical CD I bought. I had pre-ordered it online. When it came in the mail, I waited until after work, and told my wife I was going for a drive to listen to the new album. I put the top down (it was probably already down - I live in Arizona) and cranked it up. By the time I got to Exist, I was in the middle of the Arizona desert, away from town, and with no light pollution. I could look up and see the Milky Way as Dr. Tysons spoken word performance flowed into my brain.

It was glorious.

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

Not sure what I was doing when it actually dropped. (probably sleeping. lol) But I was standing off to the side on top of the Capitol Records building when they played live and introduced it to the world. An epic night!

 

[Hector Trejo]

I was studying for a test I had the next day so unfortunately it was somewhat of passive listening.

I will say I specifically remember two parts of the album that made me put my pencil down and just sit there in awe:

Johnny’s bass fill at the end of Simulation

The solo to Roman Sky! Whoever wrote the chord progression and arranged it for the orchestra is a genius! Still my favorite solo to listen to to this day

Super fuckin sick album and I can’t wait to hear what’s next!

 

[Dominik Gräber]

The Stage is still (and probably always will be) the last physical CD I bought. I had pre-ordered it online. When it came in the mail, I waited until after work, and told my wife I was going for a drive to listen to the new album. I put the top down (it was probably already down - I live in Arizona) and cranked it up. By the time I got to Exist, I was in the middle of the Arizona desert, away from town, and with no light pollution. I could look up and see the Milky Way as Dr. Tysons spoken word performance flowed into my brain.

It was glorious.

Damn that must have been the ultimate experience

 

[Jamie London]

I was at work when the little nuggets of info that a single was coming started to make their way online and into forums. Some Swedish site had the artwork for the single up and everyone was freaking out trying figure out if it was real or not. Then later that day some radio station played it early, before they were supposed to and someone posted a clip of it, like 10 seconds or so of them listening to it on the radio. I believe the track finally dropped the next day.
It was such an exciting time haha

 

[Nathan Miller]

My four year old daughter loves the stage ever since she was a baby. Even now she still head bangs to it when I play it in the car.

 

[Kat the metalhead]

Not sure what I was doing when it came out But wtf it’s been 4 years already! I remembered when hail to the king was announced like it was yesterday lol

 

[Andrew Milner]

I was at work, desperately trying to drown out all the BS political talks in the office (y'know, 2016, the year everyone and their mother was obsessed with Donald Trump). It was a welcome escapism .

 

[William B.]

Time flies! Going to stream it back to back later

 

[Imactuallyadrummer]

Hmm, I have no idea where I was when it first dropped, I only heard it for the first time last year.

Not a very cool story, sorry Dom

Lol no shame, same thing happened with me.
I actually loosely stopped following the band after 2010 ish/post Nightmare (you guys probably know why). Sometime randomly within the last 1-2 years I wanted to see what the band was up to. (This is partially what led me here!)

That was the first time I had heard the Stage. It was a pretty hard album to grasp at first but as I listened to the songs more and more it all flowed and made sense. I looooove bands that take a different and new creative approach to their writing and playing. Also brooks is a beast whose individual limbs have higher IQ than me and I am not a dumb person

 

[Jesse Salmons]

I was just about to graduate high school when it dropped, i played it on repeat every single day, wore that CD out! At my night shift job at mcdonalds i was jamming to it, during the day at school, same thing. I still jam to it, and honestly Syn’s solo work in this album blew me away. He’s always been a hero of mine, but when it comes to The Stage, his solo work reminded me of the guitar heroes of the older days. EVH, the boys in skynyrd, Randy Rhoads, hendrix, clapton; Syn came for blood on this album. The whole album is great but Syn stood out and sounded the best i think he ever has (i say this and City of Evil is still my favorite A7X album.)

Regardless, it was a soundtrack to a new stage in my life(ha pun intended) and i will always love that album.