Return. Return. Return.

One word. One message. One resolve. It is as much of a command as it is a plea, as much of a call as it is a challenge. And it is the word that is the culmination of nine years as a band, a history that has led Project 86 to the here and now. After nearly 300,000 in lifetime sales, four albums, and fifteen national tours it seemed this Orange County, California outfit had begun to forget who they really were, why they had formed Project 86 in the first place. ...And the Rest Will Follow is about the return. This one word chorus is found on the fifth song of Project 86's fifth album.

Return. Return. Return.

Lead vocalist Andrew Schwab explains, "This chapter of our band is about growing up, becoming a man, and taking responsibility for who you are, who you have been. It's time to embrace our gifts and live in them to impact others' lives for the sake of faith, hope, and love. It's also time to stop beating ourselves up over past mistakes. We started this band to pour into kids' lives and that's the spirit we have recaptured on ...And the Rest Will Follow."

For this release, Project 86 knew they had to do something brand new, while still managing to capture their classic, unique sound. So, the band traveled to Vancouver, B.C. to team up with Gggarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Chevelle, Atreyu) the producer who was at the helm for Project 86's most successful release to date, Drawing Black Lines. In addition, the band decided to make a film about the recording process, and has now released this film on their first DVD, "Subject to Change: The Making of ...And The Rest Will Follow." The DVD is an entertaining compliment to the record, allowing fans to get closer to the band than ever before.

"We were forced to be more vulnerable than we had ever been in making this album," Schwab explains. "We pushed ourselves to go further musically, to find something new deeper down. This is definitely our most diverse release, with as much focus on melody as there is on destruction. I tried to show the tension and victory of the process in the lyrics as much as possible. Every single song was a challenge to overcome the fears that I was holding onto...fears of failure and loss. True hope is found when you are forced to confront your weaknesses."

On the opening track "Sincerely, Ichabod," Schwab addresses the band's past in the very first line, making it clear that Project 86 has no interest in anything else but looking forward: "We once drew some lines in black, and right now it's about time we took them back." These sentiments continue later in the song as a multitude of voices scream, "Off with your head. We'll take it all back and then some...never again."

Though the opening track is perhaps the heaviest song the band has ever written, the record as a whole is refreshingly versatile. Several of the more "radio-friendly" tracks shine without sounding as if the band planned it that way. Memorable harmonies sneak up on you at every turn. The production quality is dirty and raw, with drum sounds big enough to make you reference Metallica's Black album. The song-writing of Bassist Steven Dail and Guitarist Randy Torres is subtle and effective, maintaining a less-is-more approach that features substance over flash. Drummer Alex Albert guides the pace with his signature heavy beats and occasional china smashes, accentuating tastefully employed breakdowns. Schwab's vocals range from whispers to shouts to wails to melodies, as this album contains, decidedly, his best performance to date.

This is the record that they had to deliver. Simply put, there is a life to it that is missing on a majority of heavy albums today. You can sense that this band has boiled everything down to what matters: great songwriting with heart and purpose. Citing a broad array of influences from Queens of the Stone Age to Hatebreed to The Faint, it is hard to pinpoint what category to place the new incarnation of Project 86 into. And they wouldn't have it any other way.

Schwab states, "I don't see us fitting into scene-core land. That's just fine by us. The bands that last are the ones that pave their own paths. I guess we have evolved into a heavy rock band that just wants to play music that we love. We have had to fight to be in the place we are now, and we are very, very thankful for every single supporter, every single kid who connects with what we are doing. Everything that has happened in the last nine years has led us to this point. We know who we are and where we are headed."