Three Days Grace released Transit of Venus on October 2, 2012. Their fourth studio album, issued through RCA Records, paired the band with producer Don Gilmore at Revolution Studios in Toronto. The sessions gave them room to reconsider both their arrangements and the way they developed songs.
Drummer Neil Sanderson described the goal in the band’s release announcement as “a tighter, more articulated sound.” The writing had become more intricate, and the group was trying different instruments while keeping the production focused. “Chalk Outline” introduced the record as its lead single in August 2012. Its official music video, directed by Shane Drake, followed that October.
That change began before the recordings were finished. Adam Gontier told ARTISTdirect in an October 2012 interview that the band had previously arrived with songs largely settled, then recorded them in about a month. For Transit of Venus, they entered with incomplete material and spent roughly three and a half months developing it. Writing and recording became part of the same process, with Gilmore contributing ideas as the album took shape. Gontier also described a deliberate move away from piling up guitar tracks. Synths, keyboards and piano took on more of the work in the arrangements.
The freedom to try things extended to the songs themselves. Guitarist Barry Stock told Metal Machine that “Expectations” began with music before becoming a fictional story, an exception to the personal experiences that usually informed their writing. Their version of Michael Jackson’s “Give In to Me” had a similarly informal start: Stock and Sanderson played around with the song for fun. It became the band’s first cover included on a studio album.
Gontier wanted a different emotional finish, too. He told ARTISTdirect that “Unbreakable Heart” was chosen as the closing track late in the process, ending the darker material with a song about staying strong.
Those decisions also changed the live show. In the Metal Machine interview, Stock explained that a touring keyboard player allowed them to reproduce the additional parts onstage, including piano passages from older material. Backing vocals were part of that role, too. “We don’t run tracks,” he said. With more keyboards on the record, another musician let the band perform those arrangements live.
The album’s promotion soon faced a much larger change. In January 2013, Three Days Grace publicly announced Gontier’s departure and recruited My Darkest Days singer Matt Walst, bassist Brad Walst’s brother, for their scheduled North American tour with Shinedown. In a message to fans, the remaining members said they had learned of Gontier’s decision the previous December and wanted to honor the shows already booked. They described Matt’s position at that point as temporary.
The transition was audible in the material the band shared with that announcement. Rehearsal recordings featured Matt singing “Chalk Outline” and “The High Road” alongside the older “Riot.” Songs introduced with Gontier’s voice were already being rehearsed with his replacement as Three Days Grace worked out how to continue the Transit of Venus tour.
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