Umbra Vitae – the band featuring Jacob Bannon (Converge), Sean Martin (Twitching Tongues, ex-Hatebreed), Mike McKenzie (The Red Chord), Jon Rice (Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, The Red Chord) and Greg Weeks (The Red Chord) – is back with their sophomore record Light Of Death due out June 7.
Light Of Death was recorded by Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks at God City Studios and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, and you can check out the new single "Velvet Black" above.
"Lyrically this song is about pressure and how it forces actions that aren't in line with who we want to be," said Bannon. "It breaks and changes people; making monsters and the meek. These cycles of dysfunction indiscriminately harm everything around us."
He continues: "Metaphorically I explore this in two interlinked ways. Firstly, the idea of growth coming from decay. Secondly, as an afterlife scenario where dead attempt to overrun golden gates. Not worthy of passing through due to their actions on the mortal plane, they retreat back into the 'velvet black' darkness which they came from."
Martin added: "Jake had to convince me to use this one. It was hanging around within the realm of the demo folders forever and I wasn't 100% sure about it. That being said I'm glad we moved forward with it. Coupled with Jake's lyrics, vocals and vocal arrangements utilizing myself, Greg and Mike the song stands as an outlier on the record."
McKenzie continues" This track grew quite a bit over time. I love the clean vocals that Jake, Sean and Greg sang in this one. I had no idea what they were actually recording until I heard all three voices and it's one of my favorites from the record."
Weeks concluded: "This one is a departure from the rest of the record. The tune started out as a Sean riff that Jake really pushed to put on the record. I was not expecting to sing on this record but Jake heard something in his head with multiple vocalists. It turned into a gloomy clean sung song that adds a sadness and hopeful tone to the record. I also wanted a synth sounding section for the bass so I was given the chance to raid Kurt's pedal collection. He suggested his God City Brutalist pedal and it was perfect!"
Pre-orders for Light Of Death are available here. You can also catch at one of the dates below. Tickets are available here.
6/7 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
6/8 Brooklyn, NY @ The Meadows
6/9 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
