TANTRIC’s fourth album, MIND CONTROL, will now be released August 4 on the Silent Majority Group label (through Warner Music Group’s Independent Label Group). Originally scheduled for July 21, the album was produced by Brett Hestla (Creed, Framing Hanley, Dark New Day) and is the follow-up to 2008’s THE END BEGINS, which produced the Top Five Rock hit, “Down and Out.” 　　 　　The album’s first single, “Mind Control,” is currently in the Top 40 on the Mediabase Active Rock chart after only two weeks, garnering spins on over 50 radio stations nationwide including Phoenix, Detroit, Dallas, Houston and Chicago, and including Sirius XM’s “Octane” channel. A video for the track was recently shot in Nashville with director Mason Dixon (who directed the video for “Down and Out”) and will be debuting nationwide on August 4. 　　 　　 　　 　　In touring news, the band--Hugo Ferreira (lead vocals, keyboards), Joe Pessia (guitars), Erik Leonhardt (bass and vocals), Marcus Ratzenboeck (violin) and Richie Monica (drums)—is gearing up for a U.S. tour with their special guests Aranda and Vayden starting July 31 in Syracuse, which will also include various radio station festivals along the route. 　　 　　After spending nearly a year on the road promoting THE END BEGINS, Tantric returned home to begin penning their new album. Except home, for each member, was a different place in the U.S. So instead of sitting together in a rehearsal space in the same city, the members of Tantric wrote separately, sending files electronically to Hugo, who compiled them into working demos. After a few months, the band had written almost thirty songs. 　　 　　“It was a really unique way of approaching a record,” Hugo says. “It was definitely more of a collaboration than the last record in terms of writing. And we wrote it together even though we were thousands of miles apart. I don’t know how, but we really wrote an incredible record in a short period of time. I’ve always wanted to make a record like this.” 　　 　　The band then reconvened in the secluded studio in Poconos where they had recorded their last album, where they spent a week playing the songs live and experimenting with what they had written long distance for MIND CONTROL. Inevitably, some of the numbers shifted and evolved during that week. 　　 　　“We had written the whole record over the computer,” says Erik. “So a lot of it changed once we got into the studio. When you have everyone in the same room the ideas start changing. ‘What if we do this? What if we do that?’ We definitely went heavier on this record, too. I think it has a lot to do with having all new members. This is the new band, full on and writing together. We never said ‘let’s write a heavier record,’ this is just what happened.” 　　 　　The songs on MIND CONTROL are far ranging both in terms of lyrical content and sonic aesthetic, something the band feels truly encapsulates who they are as artists. The title track and first single, “Mind Control,” a song about the media, sits on the heavier end of the spectrum, chugging with propulsive guitars and an arena-ready rock melody. “What Are You Waiting For,” fills the other end of the spectrum, an emotionally urgent power ballad that immediately engages its listener. The album, as a cohesive whole, reveals the band that Tantric has become. After a tumultuous ten-year career, a shifting of members, and four albums spent searching for themselves, Tantric has solidified their line-up and crafted an album that successfully represents who they are. 　　 　　“My goal is always to do what I love and survive at it,” explains Hugo, “but I would like this record to take us farther than the last record. I would like it to establish Tantric as this band that’s not going anywhere. We’ve been here for four records already and every record that we’re delivering is getting better. I’m so proud of MIND CONTROL. It’s the one I’ve always wanted to make.” 　　 　　Having introduced the 2.0 version of Tantric on record with 2008's The 　　End Begins (with founding members and ex-Days of the New members Todd 　　Whitener, Jesse Vest, and Matt Taul all having become ex-members of 　　Tantric too), lead singer Hugo Ferreira doesn't seem to have felt there 　　was any reason to wait the usual three years before releasing another 　　album, and so Mind Control follows only 15 months later. (And really, in 　　the music business environment of the 2000s, in which the sales life of 　　an album is much abbreviated from previous decades, why not?) His backup 　　musicians may have been replaced since 2007 (and the drum chair has now 　　passed to a third man, Richie Monica, with Marcus Ratzenboeck joining on 　　electric violin), but Ferreira still positions Tantric squarely in the 　　post-grunge tradition of peers like System of a Down, Linkin Park, and, 　　especially, Nickelback, placing his sonorous, husky baritone over tracks 　　that sometimes border on heavy metal, but usually retain a melodic hard 　　rock flavor. He sneaks in some of his own piano playing, notably on the 　　intro and outro to "Coming Undone," and gives some rein to guitarist Joe 　　Pessia, who does Eddie Van Halen-style shredding on "Coming Undone"; 　　contributes attractive acoustic work on the power ballad "The Past Is 　　the Past"; and enjoys his own showcase on the guitar interlude 　　"Intermezzo," when he isn't simply crunching big riffs. So, there are at 　　least hints that Ferreira and his new bandmates have ambitions beyond 　　their genre, but there are also some more potential entries in 　　Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart here.