The Monaghan Dynasty

The Monaghan Dynasty is the debut studio album by electronic trio Schizophonic, and the only album they created together before they disbanded. It was recorded between late 2008 and early 2009, and released on March 2nd, 2009. "The Monaghan Dynasty" spawned two top 15 hits, "Amnesiatic" and "Wreck Of The Day". The album was certified silver and peaked in the top 10, but otherwise had a short shelf life, especially after promotion was cancelled after the album's second single.

Background & Recording
Alexei announced in late 2008 right after Phoenix Rising broke through with debut single "Rewritten" that he would be taking a brief step away from the band to work with his brothers Sylar and Raphael on an electronic dance music project called Schizophonic, produced by Sylar, and featuring the vocal and instrumental talents of Alexei and Raphael. The three brothers recorded the majority of the album at the tail end of 2008, but the last few tracks were completed in 2009 just prior to the album's release. The project did not prove to be wildly popular with critics or fans, and many thought that Alexei was sabotaging his own career and damaging Phoenix Rising's credibility by getting involved with other projects right when the band was starting to break through.

All but two of the album's fifteen tracks was written by the group; "You Can't Hide" was penned by R'n'B singer Othello, while "Twisted Light" was written by then-fledgling band Aftershock. A number of tracks from the album are instrumental pieces by Sylar, showing the full breadth of his production abilities and diversity in musical style. There is one collaboration featured on the album; the trio recorded the song "Spitfire" with then pop-country starlet Mahlee Wohp, as a take that to Mahlee's critics. "Spitfire" was not the only song on the album to court controversy, with last-recorded track "Hurt Right Back" making liberal references to the feud between Alexei and Indigo Peak. Another track, which was far angrier and much more aggressive, was cut from the tracklisting and was never released. Alexei performs nearly all the lead vocals on the album, although Raphael's vocal duties were called upon for the single versions of "Wreck Of The Day" and the unreleased "You Can't Hide" single mix with Veronica Nightshade.

Singles

 * "Amnesiatic" (February 9th) was the first single to be released from the album, released only in the UK. The song was not a success, debuting and peaking at #13. It spent only three weeks on chart, dropping off the chart after only 46k copies sold - a disaster by all accounts, not selling anywhere near certification. The song spent two non-consecutive weeks on the airplay chart, peaking at #30.


 * "Wreck Of The Day" (March 9th) was the second single, and final one released by the group. It came out exactly a month after its predecessor, and while still unsuccessful overall, it fared a lot better than "Amnesiatic". The song peaked at #9 on the singles chart and sold more than double the total of "Amnesiatic", and reached #23 on the airplay chart with more time spent on-chart. Like their previous single, the band missed certification a second time.


 * "You Can't Hide" (May 11th, Cancelled) was to have been the third single from the album, but was cancelled due to lack of motivation by the group. The single version featured a pre-Idol Veronica Nightshade on guest vocals. Promo discs for the single were issued, and the single mix leaked from the promo, but was otherwise never commercially released.

Chart Performance
"The Monaghan Dynasty" missed the top 10 upon release, but climbed to peak at #10 in its second week after "Wreck Of The Day" charted. The album didn't spend much time on chart with only one single to support it since its release, and it was certified silver with 153k sold. The album spent nine weeks on chart before it fell off.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 153,621
 * Week 1: 24,912
 * Week 2: 34,799
 * Week 3: 24,217
 * Week 4: 21,100
 * Week 5: 12,610
 * Week 6: 12,764
 * Week 7: 10,000
 * Week 8: 8,492
 * Week 9: 4,727