page_title: The Blackest Beautiful
section_title: Release and promotion
hierarchical_section_title: The Blackest Beautiful / Release and promotion
caption_attribution_description: English: Singer of Letlive. Jason Aalon Butler performing at Mesa, Arizona, Quail Run Park for Warped Tour 2013.
context_page_description: The Blackest Beautiful is the third studio album by American post-hardcore band letlive. It was released by Epitaph Records on July 9, 2013. Recorded between June 2012 and January 2013, the album used four drum sessions, and went through ten recording engineers before settling on Stephen George. The drums were recorded with session musician Christopher Crandall, in the absence of the band having a permanent drummer at the time. The album incorporated a variety of music styles based on its members, including punk rock, funk, and soul; it was mastered and mixed to have a "more human" and "organic" sound.
  Although the album was not expected to sell well because it was streamed for free prior to release, it still debuted in the United States at number 74 on the Billboard 200 and number six on the Hard Rock Albums chart, with nearly five thousand copies sold. The band toured the United Kingdom and Ireland to support the album, and joined other bands on tours across the United States. Critics welcomed the album, praising its crisp production and forward-thinking sound within post-hardcore, with Metacritic giving an aggregate rating of "universal acclaim".
context_section_description: The album was initially announced in Rock Sound for a summer 2013 release; later specified to be July 9, 2013. A few weeks prior to its release, the album was streamed online for free. Although Butler acknowledged that the strategy would mean the album would not sell well, he said "It's not about how many people it reaches but that it makes them feel something."
  The band toured the United Kingdom and Ireland in October, playing songs from both Fake History and The Blackest Beautiful. Many of the dates were sold out; London's date was met with such high demand that it was upgraded to a larger venue from the Camden Underworld to the Electric Ballroom. At Clwb Ifor Bach, Quench magazine writer Jack Glasscock said that they are "without doubt, the most exhilarating live band around" with their primal and engaging front-man Butler, Kerrang! writer David McLaughlin gave the show a five out of five "K's". He said, "No longer just a spectacle, to be gasped at in almost voyeuristic fascination wondering what might happen next, letlive. are now about songs, feeling, performance".
  In November and December, the band returned to the United States where they supported Every Time I Die with Code Orange Kids.
  In February and March 2014, the band supported Bring Me the Horizon for their Sempiternal album, joining groups Of Mice & Men and Issues on The American Dream Tour. From April to May, they co-headlined a tour with Architects for their album Lost Forever // Lost Together, with support from Glass Cloud and I The Mighty. On August 26, they and Architects supported A Day To Remember at a postponed event at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena.
caption: Singer of letlive. Jason Aalon Butler performing at Warped Tour 2013. Aalon Butler has been praised as the key force behind for letlive.'s chaotic and primal live performances.
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