The band’s major label debut for Epic Records, produced by Josh Abraham [Linkin Park, Slayer, Atreyu, 30 Seconds to Mars] at his L.A.-based Pulse Recording, founding member Matt Skiba, bassist/co-songwriter Dan Andriano and drummer Derek Grant insist they have found a light at the end of the tunnel.

“There’s a heavy theme of duality, light and dark, life and death, on the album,” says Matt, who says Agony and Irony is a pun on the Paul McCartney/Steve Wonder song “Ebony and Ivory,” like such other plays on words as 2001’s From Here to Infirmary and 2003’s Good Mourning. “We tried to make it all about the individual songs, and we really took the time to craft each one in the studio.”

Things are already off to a great start, with the first single, “Help Me,” generating 70k plays in just a single day on MySpace. The album cover, by renowned British designer John Yates, who created memorable sleeves for the Dead Kennedys, among others, during his 10 years at Jello Biafra’s legendary punk label Alternative Tentacles, is a take-off on the iconic ‘60s Time magazine that asked, “Is God Dead?”