According to Billboard.com, FILTER will release its seventh studio album, "Crazy Eyes", on April 8 via Wind-Up Records. The follow-up to 2013's "The Sun Comes Out Tonight" was produced by FILTER mainman Richard Patrick. The CD's first single, "Take Me To Heaven", can be streamed below. "'Take Me To Heaven' was written after my dad just died, and where I'm coming from is I'm trying to find if there's an afterlife and I'm trying to believe in it," Patrick told Billboard.com. "It's very hopeful. There's no more authentic and real that I could have gotten as a singer and lyricist." Regarding the overall musical direction of "Crazy Eyes", Patrick told Billboard.com: "This record is more experimental and crazy. It's where I am today. I wanted to go to some scary, weird places instead of doing that big-ass guitar sound again." He continued: "On the last record, there was another guy at the label who signed us, and I felt a responsibility to him. He wanted a big rock sound so I let the guitars be the main focus. With this record I said, 'Let me focus on being the kind of artist I was when I was at Warner Bros.,' and Wind-Up was way into that. It's way more of what we used to be and so much of where we are.” Joining Patrick during the recording sessions for "Crazy Eyes" were guitarist Oumi Kapila, bassist Ashley Dzerigian, drummer Chris Reeve and keyboardist Bobby Miller. Patrick told Uproxx: "Chris Reeve is probably the best drummer I've ever seen. He’s just a tremendous talent. Our new bass player, Ashley Dzerigian, worked with CeeLo and Adam Lambert, and she's amazing. She plays like John Entwistle. We have a keyboardist, Bobby Miller — DJ Rotten Bobby. We call him a DJ because we know what era we live in. And Oumi Kapila, another Aussie, is a virtuoso on guitar. These kids are great. We've been playing a few dates here and there, and the energy they bring to the shows really forces me to be that much better." Among the tracks set to appear on "Crazy Eyes" is "Nothing In My Hands", which was written around Ferguson and the Michael Brown shooting, but it could be applied to any of the many race-related tragedies involving police brutality that have swept the country in recent years. "This shit is happening all the time… All these black kids getting killed, and for what?" Patrick said. "It's not just something to sing about because it's dark: not one fucking rock band is reflecting this stuff. I want to write songs about social matters. I have to say something about what's going on in this corrupt world we live in."
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