After Lauri Ylönen finished touring for his debut solo album, the band entered the studio in the summer of 2011 to begin writing and recording their eighth studio album. On February 25, 2012 The Rasmus debuted the lead single "I'm a Mess" at the finals of UMK in Finland. The song was released on March 5, 2012. In February the band announced that the upcoming album would be self-titled, and would be released on April 18. 'The Rasmus' is set to be re-issued in Autumn 2012, featuring a new track titled 'Mysteria', which will also be released as a single.
Musical style and influences
Starting on Autumn of 2009, Lauri Ylönen wrote songs with Pauli Rantasalmi in Singapore, with the intention of composing the new album, but ended in a more electronical form, songs that were added into the Lauri Ylönen's debut solo album New World, an album with Daft Punk production influences. An electronic sound can be noted in the album. Lauri Ylönen Said that they wanted to go back to the sound from the Into era, while the bassist Eero Heinonen, said: "Some songs from the next album would be ballads, other songs would have strong realist lyrics, but i'm sure that the fans will love it".
The first single released from the new album, "I'm a Mess", was first heard at the live final of Finland's national selection process for the Eurovision song contest as a guest performance act, and was released as a single on March 5. In May, the band released a self-made music video for the song "Somewhere" with clips of them in the studio, in concert, and in a normal day. "Stranger" was released as the second single on May 15, 2012 in Finland, this was confirmed by guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi while he was responding to fan's questions in Radio Nova on April 15. The video for Stranger was filmed in Singapore, and depicts Lauri dressed as a king and finding himself as a stranger in a new time. A Tour Edition of the album is released in November 9, with the 10 previous tracks and 5 bonus tracks, including a new single: Mysteria, released in September 24.
Tour
On February 23, the band announced a tour in May. Presenting 11 shows in Europe, starting in Stockholm on May 7. Their supporting band is the British band InMe. As said by Universal, a total of 7 shows were added for October in Finland. New dates were added for Autumn at the end of the May Tour. All 2012 confirmed Tour Dates can be found below.
DVDs
The Rasmus released two concert DVDs of the tour. Live 2012/Mysteria documented the early tour; it was released on October 11, 2012 and was sold at the later shows. Live 2012/Volume II contained footage of the later tour and other material; it was released December 3, 2013.
