Arguably the biggest build up ever for a UNITED album release – which included the album cover being launched from space at 95,000 ft.

The launch comes on the back of a busy and successful two months that saw the band perform to 10,000 people in New York’s Central park, appear on NBC’s Today Show in the USA and the Seven Network’s Morning Show in Australia, and finally be named Top Christian Artist at the Billboard Music Awards.

Not bad considering the Morning Show labelled them “Australia’s biggest band you’ve never heard of”!

Yet despite their success, not much has changed since UNITED’s first recording in 1998 – they are still a primarily members of the worship team in their local church. 

Lead Joel Houston said Empires was an “honest” album featuring “songs that seek to listen first, and then with God’s breath speak the good news reality of Jesus and His grace”.

EMPIRES is the story of two worlds. Our prayer and desire has been to simply create the most honest project we could. Songs that seek to listen first, and then with God’s breath speak the good news reality of Jesus and His grace into the dichotomy, tension and hopeful-collision of this broken and fragile world we see here and now, and the unshakeable and mysterious reality of the Kingdom we can’t see, but no-less know is here - and NOW. #EMPIRES