Battle for the Sun is the sixth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by British alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Placebo

Placebo (band)

Placebo are a British rock band from London, England, formed in 1994 by singer and guitarist Brian Molko and bass guitarist Stefan Olsdal. The band was joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was later replaced by Steve Hewitt after conflicts with Molko. Hewitt left the band in October 2007 and...

, released in 2009 on Solitary Man Records

Solitary Man Records

Solitary Man Records is a German-Japanese Independent record label with headquarters in Münster, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.The record label was formed by Ingo Knollmann and Florian Brauch in 2006 in Japan and in 2008 in Germany, too.- Artists :The following artists/bands already released albums...

, Vagrant Records

Vagrant Records

Vagrant Records is an indie rock label based in Los Angeles, California and is home to such artists as The Hold Steady, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Active Child, PJ Harvey, Reptar, School of Seven Bells, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Thrice, James Vincent McMorrow, Placebo, and many...

, Universal Records

Universal Records (Philippines)

Universal Records Philippines Inc. is a Filipino record label founded in 1977 as a part of Warner Music Group. Since 1992, it became independent.-History:URPI was founded in 1977 as WEA Records Philippines Inc...

, and PIAS Recordings

PIAS Recordings

[PIAS] Recordings is the recorded music division of the [PIAS] Entertainment Group, a European independent artist and label services company.The record labels that operate under the [PIAS] Recordings umbrella are: Play It Again Sam, Wall of Sound and Different Recordings.Aside from the three London...

.

Production and recording

David Bottrill

David Bottrill

David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Currently, he owns Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz...

 produced the record, after having previously worked with Tool

Tool (band)

Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...

, Muse

Muse (band)

Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...

, Silverchair

Silverchair

Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...

, Remy Zero

Remy Zero

Remy Zero were a Birmingham, Alabama-based alternative rock band made up of Cinjun Tate , Shelby Tate , Cedric LeMoyne , Jeffrey Cain and Gregory Slay prior to his death in January 2010.-History:Before Remy Zero had released any full length albums, Radiohead found their demo tape and invited...

, and dEUS. James Brown, who worked on the band's 2006 album Meds

Meds

Meds is the fifth studio album by British alternative rock band Placebo, released in 2006 on Virgin Records. It was released in most countries on 13 March 2006, although it was released three days earlier in Australia and New Zealand...

, engineered. It is also the first album with the new drummer, Steve Forrest

Steve Forrest (musician)

Steven Forrest is a drummer with the band Placebo.Before joining Placebo, Forrest was drummer for the Ambient rock band Evaline...

. Recording took place in Metalworks Studios

Metalworks Studios

Metalworks Studios is a music recording studio in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1978 by Gil Moore of the Canadian rock group Triumph.-Music Artists:*Alexisonfire*Adriana Lombardo*Jason Dawson*Kate Voegele*Demi Lovato*Fair to Midland...

, Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

On Battle for the Sun, the band utilize new instruments, such as trumpets and saxophones. Molko even experimented with the Springtime

Springtime (guitar)

The Springtime is an experimental electric guitar with seven strings and three outputs. The instrument was created in 2008 by Dutch luthier Yuri Landman for guitar player Laura-Mary Carter of Blood Red Shoes.-Technical information:...

 (experimental electric guitar made by Yuri Landman

Yuri Landman

Yuri Landman is a Dutch experimental luthier who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a list of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn...

). The material has influences from such bands as PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...

 and My Bloody Valentine. It is a heavier-sounding record compared to its predecessor. Frontman Brian Molko said on the concept of the album:

We've made a record about choosing life, about choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light. Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because it's there, it's essential; it's a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead.

Molko has also stated that Battle for the Sun is the band's first album with a discernible thematic unity. Molko states that his favourite track from the album is "Speak in Tongues".

Molko was inspired to write bonus track "Unisex" by the movie Cloverfield

Cloverfield

Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city...

.

The mastered album features a slight peculiarity on track 9 ("Julien"): the vocals are doubled for a short duration, with a phrase, sung in low volume, preceding itself. This apparently stems from an error in either the mixing or mastering stage.

Release

The album was released as a download, CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

, limited edition CD and DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

, LP

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

, and a limited edition box set.

The box set features the full album plus two extra studio tracks, a CD to access exclusive live recorded tracks, a DVD of the December 2008 Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu,...

 performance, a DVD of exclusive studio footage and a 32 page photo book featuring exclusive artwork, photos and handwritten lyrics as well as the full album on 2 x Heavy Vinyl LP.

The title track debuted on Zane Lowe

Zane Lowe

Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...

's BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

 show 17 March 2009. After the world première, it became available for free download on the band's official site.

At an exclusive secret gig held on 17 March 2009, in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the band played a number of new songs from the album, including the tracks "Ashtray Heart", "Julien", "Kitty Litter", and "Devil in the Details". They also covered Nik Kershaw

Nik Kershaw

Nik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists...

's "Wouldn't It Be Good

Wouldn't It Be Good

"Wouldn't It Be Good" is a song written and recorded by singer Nik Kershaw for his 1984 studio album Human Racing. The song has been covered by numerous artists since, including Placebo, Danny Hutton Hitters, Cascada, and Soulwax.-Song information:...

".

The album was made available for streaming on the band's official website between 29 May and 31 May 2009.

Critical reception

Eddie Fleisher of Alternative Press gave the album 4 and a half out of 5 stars. He wrote that Battle for the Sun "takes the best elements of their sound and focuses it into a cohesive listening experience ... there's no filler to be found". The review also notes how Steve Forrest as drummer gives the band a much-needed kick and how Brian Molko's lyrics are given more clarity. Fleisher also says the album contains two of the best Placebo songs ever, "Happy You're Gone" and "Kings of Medicine". Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 gave the album a score of 62/100 based on 17 professional reviews indicating "generally favorable reviews". Others however, have been less than receptive. NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

said that Battle for the Sun was "a desperately transparent copy of originality. For those who still believe in them, Placebo will, at least, remain an efficacious live band at festivals this summer, but only given that the real thing (Suede

Suede (band)

Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...

, Muse (band)

Muse (band)

Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...

, David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

 et al) isn't currently on offer.". Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

added that "too many songs ("Devil in the Details") are full of bombast and bland angst, as if these smart guys know better but can't help themselves".

Track listing

CD-R

A disc allowing for the download of tracks recorded live on the band's world tour. The live tracks, ten in number, became available to download on May 2010.

Vinyl

DVD

DVD 2

Personnel

• Brian Molko
  Brian Molko
  Brian Molko is a songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the band Placebo. He is known in particular for his high-pitched vocals, androgynous appearance, and unique, Sonic Youth-influenced guitar style and tuning.-Early life:Born to an American father of French-Italian heritage and a Scottish...
  
   – vocals, guitar, Springtime guitar, keyboards, piano
• Stefan Olsdal
  Stefan Olsdal
  Stefan Olsdal is the bassist/guitarist of the alternative rock band Placebo and is part of the electronic dance/DJ and remix act Hotel Persona.-Biography:...
  
   – bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, piano, organ, backing vocals
• Steve Forrest
  Steve Forrest (musician)
  Steven Forrest is a drummer with the band Placebo.Before joining Placebo, Forrest was drummer for the Ambient rock band Evaline...
  
   – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Bill Lloyd – keyboards
• Fiona Brice
  Fiona Brice
  Fiona Brice is a composer, orchestral arranger and violinist. She is known as sidewoman with the alternative rock band Placebo.Brice writes orchestral arrangements for various artists and has toured & recorded with several major pop artists, including Placebo, Kanye West, Sugababes, Boy George,...
  
   – string arrangements
• Peter Cardinalli – brass arrangements
• Alex Cooksey – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
• Hazel Fernandes – backing vocals
• Valerie Etienne – backing vocals
• David Bottrill
  David Bottrill
  David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Currently, he owns Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz...
  
   – production
• James Brown – engineering
• Wayne Cochrane – assistant engineer (tracking)
• Kevin Dietz – 2nd engineer (record)
• Alan Moulder
  Alan Moulder
  Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
  
   – mixing
• Darren Lawson – assistant mixing
• John Davis – mastering
• Joseph Llanes – photography

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position	Certification
UK Albums Chart	8
US Billboard 200	51
US Billboard Independent Albums	8
Australian Albums Chart (ARIA)	8
Austrian Albums Chart	1
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	1	Gold
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	1	Gold
Dutch Albums Chart	5
European Albums Chart	1
Finnish Album Chart	2
French Albums Chart	1
German Albums Chart	1	Gold
Irish Albums Chart (IRMA)	22
Italian Albums Chart	5	Gold
New Zealand Albums Chart	14
Polish Albums Chart	14
Portuguese Albums Chart	4
Spanish Albums Chart	5
Swedish Albums Chart	9
Swiss Albums Chart	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2009)	Rank
German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	45
Swiss Albums Chart	47

Release history

Country	Date
Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	3 June 2009
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...	5 June 2009
Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	8 June 2009
Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Philippines Philippines The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...	7 November 2009
Worldwide (Redux Edition)	27 September 2010