Incomparable is the second studio album by Swedish metal band Dead by April. Production for the album took place after a lineup change of guitarists and vocalists for the band following the release of their self-titled debut. Incomparable was released on 21 September 2011 in the United States and most countries, and on 26 September in the United Kingdom, making it the first album by the band to be released in the US in the same time frame as its European release. The album's first official single, "Within My Heart", was released on 16 May 2011 as an EP containing two additional tracks to be featured on the album. The second single, "Calling", was released on 4 September with an accompanying music video released on 6 October. The third single, "Lost", was released on 19 September 2011, following the delay of the "Calling" music video.
Like the band's debut album, Incomparable included re-recorded demos as well as brand new tracks. On their debut album, only two out of 16 tracks were new, and the 14 others were re-recorded demo songs. Incomparable, however, has only one re-done demo (titled "Lost") while the other 12 songs on the standard edition are new. Two other early demos, "Painting Shadows" and "Unhateable", were also remade during the production of the album; the former was made the bonus track and the latter did not make it on the track list but was featured on the B-side of "Within My Heart". Incomparable charted at number two on the Swedish Albums Charts.
Main songwriter and former member Pontus Hjelm returned to fill in on guitar after Johan Olsson quit the band. However Hjelm was not immediately reinstated as an official member; he is credited separately from the other members in the liner notes and is absent from band photos. He finally rejoined Dead by April a year after the album's release. Like their previous album (and subsequent ones) all songs were written by Hjelm; with most co-written by vocalist Jimmie Strimell. Strimell was dismissed from Dead by April in April 2013, making Incomparable his final album with the band (though he would rejoin in a short album-less stint between 2017 and 2020).
Background
Following the release of their self-titled debut in 2009, Dead by April toured extensively throughout Europe to promote album sales until mid-2010. On 23 April 2010 it was announced on the band's official MySpace page that founding member Pontus Hjelm had officially left Dead by April in order to focus on his songwriting but would continue writing music for Dead by April, telling the fans that "nothing is different in the songwriting department". The replacement for Pontus Hjelm became vocalist Zandro Santiago. The band did not recruit a replacement guitarist as they felt it would not affect their sound to continue with only one guitarist. However, the last remaining guitarist, Johan Olsson, also left the band in late 2010 for personal reasons, wanting to work on his clothing line. During his time in the band, Johan had also worked as an assisting promoter. When he left he opined that he had merely worked with Dead by April, as opposed to being a member of the band. In an interview he stated: "I loved doing Dead by April, but I haven't really been involved in the songwriting process, and I wanted to do something on my own and that conflicted with the band's style." With the lineup changes, Pontus returned as a "session" player for the album and upcoming promotional tour, though he rejoined officially in 2012.
The album began mixing in the second quarter of 2011 and concluded on 19 April 2011. On 4 July the band announced the title of the new album to be "Incomparable", and it was announced on 11 July that it would be released on 21 September, though it was rumored to be delayed in early August to a possible 7 November release date. The album cover was originally going to be released by the band on Facebook once they reached 230,000 "likes", but other sites leaked the cover so the band released it early. The cover features a sky blue background with the same "Dead by April" logo as their self-titled album. The center shows a Japanese girl with blood and a black substance coming out of her mouth, similar to scenes from The Grudge. The album is said to be heavier and more dynamic than their self-titled album. Zandro Santiago commented on the band's genre, stating that, "[Dead by April is a] metal and boyband pop. Metal fans might not handle it properly."
