Umbra Vitae, the powerhouse which features Jacob Bannon of Converge, Sean Martin of Twitching Tongues, Mike McKenzie of The Red Chord, Jon Rice of Uncle Acid and Greg Weeks of The Red Chord will release their colossal sophomore album, Light Of Death on June 7. And now the album’s darkly captivating second single “Velvet Black” arrives with a music video directed by John Bradburn.
While talking about the band’s latest single, vocalist Jacob Bannon says: “Lyrically this song is about pressure and how it forces actions that aren’t in line with who we want to be. It breaks and changes people; making monsters and the meek. These cycles of dysfunction indiscriminately harm everything around us.”
The songwriter adds: “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.”
Umbra Vitae’s Sean Martin chimes in with: “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.”
Recorded by Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks at God City Studios and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Light Of Death shows Umbra Vitae smashing and thrashing everything in sight.
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