The Illusion of Progress is the sixth studio album by American rock band Staind. It was released on August 19, 2008. The Illusion of Progress was produced by Johnny K and recorded in lead singer Aaron Lewis' home studio. It debuted at No. 3 in the Billboard 200 with 91,800 units sold. The lead single was "Believe", topping the Alternative Songs chart on September 13, 2008. It accumulated three weeks at number one. The second single was "All I Want", came out on November 24. The video continued the story of the first single video and was available on Staind's Myspace on December 12. In Europe the second single was "The Way I Am", and its video was available on the Official Staind Website as of December 24. "This Is It" has been released as the last single off the album. The album has sold over 500,000 units in the United States alone. Lewis recorded a country version of the album’s ninth track "Tangled Up in You" on his 2011 solo EP Town Line.
Sound
Lewis commented, "We went into the studio with the mindset of making our heaviest record yet, but the record that came out has flavors of Pink Floyd and straight-up blues. We didn't use the same rigs that we use onstage; we used all vintage guitars and amps, and I'm pretty psyched about it. The songs are pretty timeless in their texture." The band calls the new project the "most musical CD" they've recorded to date.
Promotion
To promote the album, Staind treated their fans to a series of intimate, behind-the-scenes "webisodes" posted on staind.com, documenting their recording process. Staind also premiered the song "Believe" worldwide on U.S. station KYSR in Los Angeles. Staind also released the song, "This Is It", on iTunes early as a single. "This Is It" was released as a downloadable track for the video game Rock Band on July 29 for the Xbox 360 and July 31 for PlayStation 3. "This Is It" was also featured on the soundtrack for the 2009 film.
Reception
Initial critical response ranged from mixed to average. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 53, based on 8 reviews.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Aaron Lewis; all music written & composed by Staind.
Note: The Japanese edition of The Illusion of Progress lists the two bonus tracks "Something Like Me" and "The Truth" as both recorded live at the Hiro Ballroom. This is incorrect. They are actually the studio versions recorded during the Chapter V album sessions.
